SHARAN, Afghanistan, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- A deputy provincial police chief was killed and several police officers wounded in a Taliban roadside bomb explosion in Afghanistan's eastern Paktika province on Saturday, a provincial police spokesman confirmed.
"Colonel Mohammad Asif Tokhi, deputy provincial police chief of Paktika, martyred and several policemen were wounded in an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) explosion in surrounding areas of provincial capital Sharan Saturday morning," spokesman Shah Mohammad Arian told Xinhua.
Tokhi was travelling aboard a vehicle in a responding police convoy which was on the way to Yaya Khil district to support police forces there, the official added.
Taliban militants stormed security checkpoints in Yaya Khil Friday night and clashes continued as of midday on Saturday, he said. No details were immediately available about clashes in the mountainous district.
Taliban militants claimed responsibility for the clashes in the region, 155 km south of the country's capital, Kabul.
Such attacks had frequently happened when Taliban targeted responding security forces by roadside bombs or home-made remote control landmines.
Violence lingers in the war-torn country even as peace talks between an Afghan government delegation and Taliban representatives were being held in Doha, capital of Gulf state of Qatar. Enditem
