Afghan security guards 'ambushed'

USPI has been active in Afghanistan since 2002

At least 15 Afghan security guards working for a US firm have been killed in an ambush by Taleban militants in western Afghanistan, police say.

They say that nine other guards - responsible for protecting a convoy of fuel tankers driving through the area - were injured in the attack.

The attack happened in the district of Bala Buluk in Farah province.

Police say that it took place as the guards were escorting a civilian supply convoy to a military base.

Taleban stronghold

Police spokesman Col Saydo Khan said that the guards worked for a private American firm, US Protection and Investigations (USPI).

They say that police reinforcements have now arrived in the area and are currently fighting the Taleban in a village close to the scene of the attack.

Col Khan said that those wounded had been taken to hospital.

A Taleban spokesman quored by the Reuters new agency claimed responsibility for the attack, and said they had abducted 12 security guards.

The spkesman said that only two of their own fighters had been killed.

Correspondents say that the Taleban regularly attack convoys that supply military bases in the region, and have also targeted UN vehicles delivering food and medical supplies.

Farah adjoins the southern province of Helmand - a Taleban stronghold and the main base for thousands of British troops.

It and Farah province has seen growing unrest over the past year.

In September last year Afghan security forces said they had recaptured Golestan district headquarters in Farah province which been seized by the Taleban.

Farah provincial Governor Mohaiuddin Baluch told the AFP news agency that in the latest violence on Monday night, the Taleban launched an overnight offensive in the Khak-i-Safed district.

Mr Baluch said that the rebels were pushed back by police, and three of them were killed.

Correspondents say the Taleban - who ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001, have occasionally captured remote districts in southern Afghanistan - but have not consistently held on to them.

Last week Nato and Afghan forces re-captured the town of Musa Qala in Helmand, which was held by the Taleban for 10 months.