5 Taliban fighters, 6 Afghan policemen killed in ambushes

KABUL, Afghanistan – Taliban fighters ambushed a national police patrol in western Afghanistan, killing a commander and four of his men, authorities said Thursday.

Herat province police spokesman Abdul Raouf Ahmadi said 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.

In the eastern province of Laghman, four people on their way home from a wedding were killed and another injured when a roadside bomb exploded next to their car, governor's spokesman Sarhadi Zwak said. A local police officer was also killed in the attack.