Four killed in fresh Afghan violence
US-led coalition warplanes kill four militants who had attacked a government building in eastern Afghanistan.
US-led coalition warplanes killed four militants who had attacked a government building in eastern Afghanistan, the coalition said on Tuesday.
The casualties occurred after nearly a dozen militants attacked the administration office of eastern Khost province's Spera district late on Monday with rockets and gunfire, it said.
"In response to a request from the (police), coalition forces responded with close air support, killing four insurgents," the statement said. Seven other rebels were wounded.
Two Afghan policemen defending the facilities in the remote town near the Pakistani border were also wounded, it said, adding that gunfight lasted more than two hours.
Attacks on remote government buildings and police checkposts as well as staff and troops are routine in Afghanistan, where the remnants of the Taliban have waged an insurgency since their 2001 ouster.
The Taliban were toppled by a US-led invasion for failing to hand over Al-Qaeda's chief Osama bin Laden.
More than 1,000 people, many of them militants, have died in the violence this year.
About 50,000 foreign troops are in Afghanistan to help the government gain control of areas overrun with Taliban militants, drug barons and private armies.