Afghan Insurgents Fight Police; 22 Killed

Insurgents attacked a police headquarters in southeastern Afghanistan, sparking a battle Sunday with rockets, grenades and heavy machine guns that killed at least 15 fighters and seven Afghan police, a police chief said.

The siege began shortly before midnight Saturday when about 400 guerrillas attacked the police headquarters in the town of Barmal in Paktika province, about 125 miles southeast of Kabul, said provincial governor Mohammed Ali Jalali.

The fighters took over the office and held it until 5 a.m. Sunday before destroying the building and retreating amid a gunbattle with police, said police chief Daulat Khan.

Jalali said that more than 20 insurgents and seven police were killed. But Khan said that 15 fighters died. The men said that the insurgents took the bodies with them when they fled across the border to Pakistan.

Jalali said the insurgents included Taliban and fighters loyal to warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, a former prime minister who heads Hezb-e-Islami, a faction which has called for attacks against foreigners in Afghanistan.

The Taliban were ousted in late 2001 by the U.S.-led coalition, which continues to hunt Taliban and al-Qaida fugitives. The coalition force numbers about 11,500 foreign soldiers, 8,500 of them are American.