Taleban assault on Nato-funded Afghan road construction site kills 35 workers

Insurgents firing heavy machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades and assault rifles killed 35 workers and guards in an attack on a Nato-funded road construction site in eastern Afghanistan yesterday.

More than 100 fighters carried out the assault in Wazei Zadran in a mountainous region of Paktia province near neighbouring Pakistan's tribal areas, said Galaxy Sky construction owner Noorullah Bidarm, who said the assailants were Taleban fighters.

The region is thought to be controlled largely by the Haqqani network, an independent branch of the Afghan Taleban and foe of US and Nato forces. The al-Qaeda-affiliated network, led by ailing Jalaluddin Haqqani and his son Sirajuddin, is based in Pakistan's tribal belt.

US officials claim Pakistan has not done enough to attack insurgent safe havens in the area, especially in North Waziristan where the Haqqanis are said to be based. The area has been the target of US drone airstrikes.

About 85 people were at the building site, including around 65 guards mostly from surrounding villages, Mr Bidar said. He said the firefight lasted about two hours and the insurgents shot at the camp from a nearby hill. The fighting also destroyed a number of vehicles.

"This was a brutal attack," he said.

Rohullah Samon, a spokesman for governor Juma Khan Hamard, said 35 workers were killed and 20 wounded. He said eight insurgents also died in the attack, which ended with them stealing trucks.

"It is a very remote area and there is no police presence there and we are investigating," said local police chief, general Abdul Ghafar Safi.

Galaxy Sky had a contract to build a 18-mile stretch of road funded by Nato, said Abdullah Durani, head of the public works department of Paktia province.

Afghan president Hamid Karzai condemned the attack. "The terrorists once again make clear their hostility against the development and progress of Afghanistan," he said.

The new top US commander in eastern Afghanistan, Major General Daniel B Allyn, said that securing the Afghan border with Pakistan remained a priority.

"We will work in close co-operation with our Pakistan military partners across the borders," Maj Gen Allyn told reporters after formally assuming command.

"They continue to conduct complementary operations and we remain in daily dialogue … to ensure that we can provide stability and security … against the common enemies of both Pakistan and Afghanistan."

Insurgents declared the start of a spring offensive against Nato and the Afghan government last month. Nato has been expecting the Taleban to stage a series of spectacular attacks, and the group has already carried out a number recently.

On Wednesday, a suicide bomber crashed a car into a police bus in eastern Afghanistan, killing 14 people and wounding 16.Most of the casualties were police officers. There was no claim of responsibility for that attack, but it matched the pattern of Taleban attacks against government workers and security forces.

In southern Kandahar city, a roadside bomb killed a child and wounded eight others, including several children.

In the northern city of Taloqan, demonstrators took to the streets for a second day yesterday to protest at a nighttime Nato raid that left four people dead. Nato claimed they were insurgents, but Afghan officials said they were civilians.