Former Afghan provincial police chief killed

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AP) -- Foreign troops killed a former provincial police chief in southern Afghanistan during an overnight clash that also left two of his bodyguards dead, an official said Thursday.

Troops battled with Ruzi Khan Barakzai, the former police chief of Uruzgan province, near the provincial capital of Tirin Kot, said Uruzgan's deputy police chief Ghulab Khan Wardak.

Barakzai was called to a house of his friend, which was surrounded by foreign troops late Wednesday, Wardak said.

After he arrived with his guards at the house, a clash with foreign troops erupted in which Barakzai and two of his bodyguards were killed, Wardak said. Two other of Barakzai's bodyguards were wounded.

NATO's International Security Assistance Force said its troops were involved in an incident in Uruzgan on Wednesday night, but did not have more details. Dutch NATO troops are based in Uruzgan.

In a statement, President Hamid Karzai "expressed his regret" over the killing of Barakzai, which he said was a result of "misunderstanding between foreign and local forces." He did not elaborate.

Barakzai was a tribal leader and a militia commander in Uruzgan.

Afghanistan is seeing a resurgence of violence, even as the U.S. and NATO have poured thousands of new troops into the country. Last year, more than 8,000 people were killed in insurgency-related attacks. The attacks have claimed more than 4,500 lives -- mostly militants -- this year.

The violence that is afflicting Afghanistan's south and west is having a particularly negative effect on schools attendance.

The lack of security and attacks on the school buildings, teachers and students have forced some 70 percent of school-aged children away from schools in these two regions, said Shigeru Aoyagi, the director of UNESCO's office in Afghanistan.

Some 88 schools were also attacked by insurgents, whose actions have forced the closing of 640 schools countrywide, Aoyagi said.

Since last October some 250 students and teachers were killed in insurgent attacks, said Hamid Halimi, a spokesman for the education ministry.

While over 6 million children, including 2.1 million girls have been enrolled in school in 2007, over 11 million people, aged 15 and over, in a country of 30 million, remain illiterate, Aoyagi said. The majority of those are in rural area, where three quarters of Afghans live, he said.

Girls were barred from schools under the Taliban regime, when only 1 million boys attended school. After the Taliban fell in 2001, girls were allowed to return, but many conservative and uneducated Afghans still forbid their girls from going.

Taliban militants, meanwhile, killed two policemen and wounded three others after attacking their checkpoint in the eastern Paktika province Thursday morning, said provincial governor Akram Akhpelwak.

In central Logar province, meanwhile, five other police officers were wounded when a roadside bomb hit their vehicle Wednesday, said Mostapha Mohseni.

In the western Herat province's Shindand, another roadside blast wounded three more policemen, said Noor Khan Nekzad, a regional police spokesman.

Militants have killed more than 720 police in the last six months. In 2007, militants killed about 925 police -- meaning the pace of attacks this year has increased.

Afghanistan's 80,000 police have less training and less firepower than the Afghan army, making them an attractive target for militants. The police also travel in small groups through some of Afghanistan's most dangerous territory.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)