Taliban capture Afghan district office, kill five

KABUL, Apr 27 (Reuters) Taliban insurgents captured an Afghan district government headquarters, killing the top administrator, the police chief and three policemen, a senior provincial official said today.

The Taliban, who are threatening to step up their war against Afghanistan's Western-backed government and foreign troops supporting it, said they carried out the late Thursday attack in Giru district, 170 km (100 miles) southwest of Kabul.

''The district is still with the Taliban. We are preparing to retake it,'' said the deputy governor of Ghazni province, Mohammad Kazim Allahyer. He had no information about Taliban casualties.

Reinforcements had been called in, police said.

Violence in Afghanistan has been picking up in recent weeks after a traditional winter lull. There have been numerous suicide and roadside bomb attacks but few big guerrilla raids or major clashes with foreign troops.

NATO forces and the government say the Taliban are resorting to bomb attacks out of desperation.

Taliban spokesman Qari Mohammad Yousuf said Taliban fighters had killed eight Afghan government men, including the district chief and police chief in the raid. Three policeman had been captured, he said by satellite telephone.

Yousuf said two Taliban were wounded.

REUTERS SM DS1350