Taleban kill 16 cops; Nato copter crashes

KABUL • A Taleban ambush killed 16 policemen in Afghanistan yesterday as the Nato-led force said a chopper that came down in the south, killing seven foreign soldiers, may have been struck by hostile fire.

A helicopter carrying Nato-led military in Afghanistan went down late on Wednesday, with seven soldiers "known dead," the force said.

"Seven members of the International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) are known dead after a Chinook helicopter flying an Isaf mission went down in Helmand province near Kajaki just after 9 pm (1630 GMT)," it said.

"The entire crew of five died in the incident. There were also two military passengers who died," Isaf said in a statement. The 37-nation Isaf does not release the nationalities of its casualties until their home nations have done so.

Afghan officials announced meanwhile that at least a dozen Taleban fighters lost their lives in incidents overnight, and bombing raids in the southern province of Helmand were believed to have killed and wounded several more.

The attack on the police was one of the deadliest on the fledgling force, which is regularly hit by ambushes and roadside bombs in an insurgency led by the extremist Taleban movement that was driven from government in 2001.

A three-vehicle police convoy was on its way from the south to the capital, Kabul, when it was ambushed along the main highway - one of the busiest in the country, the interior ministry said.

"Sixteen police were martyred and another six police were wounded today at 8.30am in an ambush by the enemies of peace in Afghanistan," spokesman Zemarai Bashary said.

There were also casualties on the Taleban side, Bashary said, without giving a number.

The Taleban said 35 people died in the helicopter crash in Helmand province in southern Afghanistan.

Taleban fire may have brought down a military helicopter in which seven Nato soldiers were killed, alliance officials said.

Since the traditional winter lull, the resurgent Taleban have stepped up actions in recent months with a series of suicide attacks, roadside bombs and ambushes against foreign and Afghan forces.

In an apparent response to the Chinook crash, a joint Nato and Afghan raid supported by air power killed and wounded dozens of Taleban in Sangin district, close to Kajaki where the twin-rotor Nato helicopter went down on Wednesday night, the Afghan defence ministry said.

Nato said the fighting was part of a broader offensive called "Operation Lastay Kulang," from the local Pashto language for "axe handle," meant to extend the Afghan government's control into the north of Helmand province.

Officials said 2,000 foreign and Afghan troops, including 1,000 British soldiers and elements of the elite US 82nd Airborne Division, were involved in a push to loosen the Taleban's grip on the Sangin Valley.

Helmand, a long-time bastion of the Taleban, is the leading drug-producing region of Afghanistan, the world's main heroin supplier. It has been the scene of a series of bloody fights between Taleban and Western forces in recent months.

"It was a hostile area where the helicopter went down," Major John Thomas, a spokesman for Nato in Afghanistan said. "And initial indications are that enemy fire may have brought down the helicopter."

Taleban spokesman Qari Mohammad Yousuf said the death toll of 35 came from secret sources in Helmand. Taleban claims on foreign deaths are often exaggerated.

Nato said seven soldiers were killed in the crash and called the Taleban claim "absurd". Five of the soldiers were believed to be Americans.

The other two were British and Canadian, military officials in London and Ottawa said. The Canadian was identified as Master Corporal Darrell Priede, a military cameraman serving with the army.