07/12/2007 Ambushes by Taliban rebels in Afghanistan Friday left nine policemen dead with five of the militants also killed, police said. The Taliban fighters attacked a police commander's vehicle while he was traveling with his wife and a child and some bodyguards in the western province of Herat, the police commander for western Afghanistan said. Police vehicles and most of the dead were burned, he said. It was unclear if they were set alight after the ambush.
 
The police commander was attacked while on holiday in the Injil district that surrounds the provincial capital, also called Herat. He had been head of a police team guarding an Indian-funded hydropower dam reconstruction project in the province.
 
Separately, militants ambushed a police vehicle the south central province of Ghazni province Friday, sparking a firefight that left two policemen and five Taliban dead, provincial police said.