Tajikistan's security authorities said on Saturday they had killed at least 20 rebels and lost one officer in a clash along the border with Afghanistan. Khushnud Rakhmatullayev, a spokesman for Tajikistan's border patrol, said the rebels were killed while attempting to enter the Central Asian republic from the northern provinces of Afghanistan, where NATO-led forces are conducting operations against Taliban insurgents, according to a report of Reuters. "A clash with the use of grenades and automatic weapons took place on Friday night," Rakhmatullayev said. "As a result a border officer died. We have seven bodies of Taliban fighters, but there are at least 20 (dead)."
