SECURITY forces killed 13 Taliban in battles in southern Afghanistan, while two police and a security guard died in rebel attacks. The new unrest came as a man claiming to be a Taliban commander in the southern province of Kandahar said he was holding three nurses, a doctor and their driver hostage and would release them in exchange for militants in prison.More than 80 Taliban fighters attacked a compound in the southern province of Uruzgan overnight, sparking a pitched battle that lasted six hours, the US-led coalition said. Eight Taliban and an Afghan security guard were killed, it said.
Insurgents meanwhile stormed a police post north of Kandahar city overnight, provincial police chief Asmatullah Alizay said. "Two police were martyred in the attack. Taliban have abducted two other police as well," he said.
In a separate incident in Kandahar, NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said it had killed five militants west of the city in an overnight operation.'
A man claiming to be a local-level Taliban commander said the medical team, snatched on Tuesday, were "safe and sound".
"We are making a list of our prisoners and will release them in exchange for our men in the government prisons," the purported commander named Tur Jan said by telephone from
In another incident, Afghan border police arrested five militants including two foreign fighters with weapons, explosives and radios in eastern Nangarhar province, the interior ministry said.