Taliban kill 25 road crew guards in Afghanistan

KABUL - Taliban militants killed 25 security guards of a road construction project in southern Afghanistan during a 13-hour firefight earlier in the week a government spokesman disclosed Saturday.

“Dozen of Taliban attacked a security company midnight Thursday, killing at least 25 guards,” Daud Ahmadi said, adding 50 insurgents were killed in the gun battle.

Dozens others from both sides were wounded in the gun battle that lasted for 13 hours.

Our neighbouring countries are behind this attack as they do not want to see development in Afghanistan, he said, without naming any country. The road connects Helmand’s Sangin and Gereshk districts with the Kabul-Herat highway.

A spokesman for the Taliban insurgents, Qari Yousuf Ahmaid, claimed responsibility, but put the number of security guards killed at 50. It was twice the number that the government spokesman had given.

“Twelve trucks and heavy machines of the company were set on fire,” the Taliban spokesman said.

The provincial government spokesman also confirmed that several vehicles and machines of the company were destroyed in the battle.

Helmand, where thousands of NATO and Afghan soldiers are stationed, is one of the least secure regions in southern Afghanistan.