The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, Heart

Fifteen Afghan security guards working for a private US firm were killed in an ambush by Taliban militants in western Afghanistan on Tuesday, police said.

Nine other guards with the company, identified as USPI, were wounded in the attack in Farah province, police official Colonel Saydo Khan told AFP.

The guards were escorting a civilian supply convoy to a Western military base when they were attacked in the district of Bala Buluk, he said.

"Taliban ambushed them. Fifteen guards were killed and nine others were injured," Khan said.

Police reinforcements had been sent to the area and were fighting the attackers in a nearby village, he said from the scene.

"I can see the bodies of the guards. We have evacuated the wounded to the hospital," Khan said. Provincial governor Mohaiuddin Baluch confirmed the incident but had no details of the casualties.

The insurgents regularly attack convoys that supply military bases in the region and have also targeted food aid convoys from the World Food Programme.

Farah neighbours southern Helmand province -- the Taliban's biggest stronghold -- and has seen growing unrest in the past year, with the militants able to briefly capture several districts in recent months.

The rebels made a new offensive overnight when dozens of them stormed the Khak-i-Safed district but were pushed back by police, Baluch said.