April 08, 2007	Sunday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 19, 1428

KANDAHAR: Dozens of Taliban militants attacked a US-funded mine-clearing team in southern Afghanistan on Saturday, killing three deminers, three guards and one female passer-by, police said.

The attack on the demining team working for the US-based demining company RONCO in western Farah province was the latest in a wave of violence blamed on the Taliban insurgents, police said.

“The Taliban attacked a demining team. Three deminers and three guards supporting them were killed,” a highway police official, Saydo Jan said. “One Afghan woman nearby was also killed in the shootout,” he said.

Five other people nearby including three women were wounded in the attack in the province's Bakwa district, the police official said, blaming the attack on Taliban militants active in the area.—AFP