Taliban delay French hostage decision; 10 killed

Kabul, May 6: Afghanistan's Taliban extended its deadline for a deal for the release of a French hostage until after French presidential election, but also mounted an ambush and a string of suicide bombings that killed 10 policemen.

Eight Afghan policemen were killed in a six-hour gunbattle after a Taliban ambush and two were killed when a suicide bomber rammed a car into their vehicle and blew himself up, Afghan police said.

Separately, the US-led coalition forces said they killed several leaders of the Taliban in controversial recent clashes in the western province of Herat, in which Afghan authorities say many civilians died.

The Taliban leadership had put off today's deadline for a hostage deal as a sign of mercy, Taliban spokesman Qari Mohammad Yousuf said by phone from an undisclosed location.

''We have extended it (the ultimatum) until the elections are over,'' Yousuf said.

Aid worker Eric Damfreville and three Afghan colleagues would be freed if at least one of the Taliban's demands were met, he said, but added the Taliban had heard nothing from authorities seeking the aid workers' release.

The Taliban and its allies have vowed to step up suicide attacks against Western troops and President Hamid Karzai's government in a year both sides see as decisive in the battle for control of the country.

Today marked the second deadline from the Taliban kidnappers, who last month grabbed two French aid workers and three Afghans working for Terre d'Enfance, an agency helping children in southern Afghanistan.

Still Alive

''We know they are still alive but don't have any details on the conditions of their detention,'' Antoine Vuillaume, president of the Terre d'Enfance aid agency told LCI television.

A French woman, Celine Cordelier, has been released but the militants have demanded the withdrawal from Afghanistan of France's 1,100 or so troops there and the release of more Taliban from Afghan jails before they will let the rest go.

''Our reaction is clear, we may kill him,'' Yousuf said, when asked what would happen if none of the Taliban demands were met.

An Italian journalist kidnapped in March, Daniele Mastrogiacomo, was freed when Kabul released five Taliban prisoners in a deal diplomats warned would lead to more hostage taking.

Dozens of Taliban guerrillas ambushed an Afghan police convoy in the western province of Farah today, sparking a gunbattle in which eight officers were killed, police said.

The clash saw 17 Taliban fighters killed or wounded, provincial police chief Sayed Agha Saqib said.

Five Taliban suicide attacks were less successful. While two Afghan police were killed in one attack, the only other known deaths were of bombers.

A coalition soldier was injured when a suicide bomber in a truck set off a blast in southeastern Paktika province as a military convoy went past, a US military spokesman said, although a witness reported seeing two dead Western soldiers.

U.S.-led coalition forces said a senior Taliban leader released in return for the freedom of Mastrogiacomo was later killed in fighting in the western province of Herat.

Coalition and Afghan forces had received intelligence that indicated more than 10 Taliban leaders were among those killed in clashes late last month, the US military said in a statement.

That fighting, in which the US military initially said 136 Taliban had been killed, sparked protests after Afghan authorities said 51 civilians were among the dead.

A joint Afghan, NATO and coalition inquiry is underway into the incident and Karzai this week demanded more consultation between foreign and Afghan forces to avoid civilian casualties.

Reuters>