Twenty-three Taliban were killed during a U.S.-led coalition operation aimed at disrupting a weapons transfer in southern Afghanistan, the coalition said Saturday. At least four police officers died in a separate clash. A truck apparently full of Taliban weapons exploded during the operation in Helmand province's Garmsir district. The coalition said it didn't know what caused the truck to explode. Coalition troops detained 11 people suspected of being part of a weapons running operation. In the western province of Ghor, meanwhile, between four and nine police were killed Friday after militants attacked them during a police operation in Shahark district, Gen. Shah Jahon Noori, the provincial police chief, said Saturday. Noori said an unknown number of police were missing after the attack and that five were wounded. More than 5,800 people have been killed in insurgency related violence in 2008, according to an Associated Press count based on figures from Western and Afghan officials.
