Taliban detonate mine at Afghan checkpoint: 4 killed, 7 wounded

Suspected Taliban rebels detonated a mine near a police checkpoint in southern Afghanistan, killing four and wounding seven Afghan police officers, authorities said Friday. The attack occurred late Thursday in Helmand province as the officers were eating dinner at their post, Nazarjusth district police chief Haji Bahadur Khan said.

He said the mine was buried in the road near the checkpoint and remotely detonated. The wounded were brought to a hospital, where four were declared out of danger and three others were in serious condition, he said. Authorities were searching for the attackers, but made no arrests so far, Khan said.

A U.S.-led military campaign ousted the Islamic Taliban militia from power in late 2001 for allegedly harboring al-Qaida. But the rebels have remained active along the Afghan-Pakistan border, staging attacks against the Afghan government and U.S.-led coalition forces, reports the AP. I.L.