Clash leaves 2 militants dead in former Taliban bastion

A gun battle in Taliban's former bastion of Marja district in the southern Helmand province of Afghanistan left two militants dead and injured another on Thursday, a local official said.

"The insurgents attacked a police checkpoint in Marja district today and police returned fire killing two enemies and wounding another," Ghulam Sakhi, the police chief of Marja district told Xinhua.

There were no casualties on police, he contended.

A former bastion of Taliban in south Afghanistan, Marja district was recaptured in the wake of massive joint Afghan and NATO operation with the involvement of 15,000 soldiers launched in mid February.

Since restoring government control in Marja district and adjoin areas, Taliban militants occasionally target security forces mostly in the shape of roadside bombings.

Four more militants, according to the official, were killed in Marja last week.

Source: Xinhua