Attacks at 2 checkpoints kill 15 policemen

KABUL, Afghanistan, Dec. 14 (UPI) -- Militants struck two checkpoints in separate provinces of Afghanistan, killing at least 15 policemen, authorities said.

In the first attack Monday at a checkpoint in northeastern Baghlan province, the attackers fired on policemen, killing eight of them, The New York Times reported. Provincial Gov. Mohammad Akbar Barakzai said two of the attackers also died in the fighting at the checkpoint, which he said had been set up on the main highway for security to villagers in the area.

Also on Monday, seven policemen died in an attack at a checkpoint in Lashkar Gah, capital of southern Helmand province, a dangerous Taliban-controlled region, government spokesman Daud Ahmadi told China's state-run Xinhua news agency.

"Three Taliban men influenced a police checkpoint outside provincial capital Lashkar Gah, opened fire on policemen inside the checkpoint at 03:30 a.m. local time killing seven on the spot and made their good escape with 10 AK-47 and a police vehicle," Ahmadi was quoted as saying.

He said police later arrested two of the three suspects during a search operation, while the third suspect escaped.

An earlier Xinhua report quoted a Hizb-e-Islami spokesman as saying in a telephone conversation from an undisclosed location that the militant group, led by dissident warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, took responsibility for the Baghlan province attack.

The Times report said it was not known if the two attacks were linked as part of a plan to warn Afghans from joining security forces. Such recruitment reportedly has increased since a salary hike for those wishing to join the security forces.

The Times reported a militant supplying and distributing weapons to insurgents fighting the American-led coalition in Khost Province had been detained. The suspect is believed to belong to a group linked to al-Qaida.