10 Killed in Clashes; Turk Engineer Abducted
Fighting between Afghan soldiers and police in the southern part of the country left 10 dead before U.S. troops intervened, officials said.
Both sides in Friday’s five-hour battle 90 miles west of the southern city of Kandahar supposedly are loyal to President Hamid Karzai’s government. But clashes between police and the army have broken out in many areas where loyalty to rival warlords is fierce and control by Karzai’s government is limited.
Meanwhile, Afghan insurgents abducted a Turkish highway engineer and demanded the release of six Taliban prisoners. Hasan Onal has been working since June under a contract to repair the 300-mile highway between the capital, Kabul, and Kandahar.
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