Clashes and an air strike in southern Afghanistan killed seven Taliban fighters and a Police officer, officials said Wednesday. Taliban militants ambushed a police patrol in Marja District of the southern Helmand province late Tuesday, and an ensuing battle left four militants and a police officer dead, said Helmand's police chief, Mohammad Hussein Andiwal. Authorities recovered the militants' bodies and their weapons, he said. Two other officers were wounded and a police vehicle was damaged. An airstrike against two motorbikes carrying Taliban militants through Zabul province killed three militants and wounded two, said provincial deputy governor Gulab Shah Alikheil. A woman and a child traveling nearby were also wounded, the Associated Press reported.
