5 Taliban, 5 Afghan police killed in ambushes

      
Authorities said Taliban fighters ambushed a national police patrol in western Afghanistan, killing a commander and four of his men.Herat province police spokesman Abdul Raouf Ahmadi said Thursday that Taliban fighters were believed to have been killed in the overnight attack, but that it was too dark to find any bodies.       

On the other side of the country in Ghazni province, deputy police commander Assadullah Ensafi said police ambushed a group of Taliban fighters and killed five, including a leader believed to have been responsible for making roadside bombs and organizing suicide attacks in the area.       

The Taliban has signaled that they are willing to talk peace with the U.S at a new office in Qatar, but at the same time have said they will continue fighting.       

The Taliban has pledged it will not use Afghanistan territory to mount attacks, although it has not denounced al-Qaeda.       

On Thursday, US special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, James Dobbins said that the US and Afghanistan were prepared to move forward with the peace talks if the Taliban would stick to conditions that it had agreed to previously.           


AP