Suspected Taliban rebels ambushed a police convoy in southern Afghanistan, killing at least 19 officers in the deadliest attack ever on the fledgling police force, authorities said Tuesday. Five other officers were missing and feared dead or kidnapped after the attack late Monday on the convoy of 150 police as they drove on a dirt road along the side of a mountain in Helmand province, Interior Ministry spokesman Yusuf Stanikzai said. Dozens of insurgents opened fire on the convoy, sparking a gunbattle that lasted until early Tuesday, when the militants fled into the mountains, he was quoted as saying by The Associated Press. Among the 19 dead was Helmand's deputy police chief, Stanikzai said. Four police officers were wounded and four police vehicles were destroyed, he said. Security forces rushed 200 extra police officers to the area and were searching houses and mountain caves in search of the militants, but none was caught or killed, the spokesman said.
