NATO military aircraft supported Afghan police in a 12-hour firefight in western Afghanistan that killed at least 10 insurgents, NATO's International Security Assistance Force said Monday. Afghan officials claimed a much higher death toll, saying dozens of insurgents were killed. A spokesman for the police in western Afghanistan, Haji Raouf Ahmedi, said 150 insurgents attacked a police checkpoint Sunday, triggering the daylong battle in Murghab district, near the border with Turkmenistan. Ahmedi said 46 insurgents were killed and 30 wounded, though he said police recovered the bodies of only five insurgents. Asked how he knew 46 were killed, Ahmedi replied, «We have reports. » The Associated Press quoted Ahmedi as saying one policeman was also killed. The governor of Badghis province, Ashraf Nasery, said 49 insurgents were killed and 35 wounded. He attributed the death toll to «intelligence reports. »
