April 25, 2005 - 1:50 PM

Afghan Police: Six Killed in Taliban Rebel Raid

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Two Afghan policemen and four Taliban guerrillas were killed in a rebel attack on a district headquarters in the southern province of Kandahar, police said Monday.

Taliban fighters attacked the headquarters of Registan district late Sunday, killing two policemen guarding the compound, said Kandahar police official General Salim Khan.

"In our counter-attack, four Taliban fighters were killed and two wounded," Khan told Reuters.

A Taliban spokesman, contacted by telephone, denied that any Taliban fighters had died in the clash and said four policemen had been killed.

Taliban attacks have picked up in recent weeks, especially in the south and east of the country, after a winter lull.

The attack came hours after an explosion hit a convoy carrying Romanian soldiers in another part of Kandahar, the former stronghold of the Islamic movement forced from power by U.S.-led forces in late 2001.

The Romanian defense ministry said one Romanian soldier was killed and two were wounded in the blast, which an Afghan official said was triggered by Taliban fighters.

Romanian troops are part of an 18,300 U.S.-led force hunting anti-government militants in Afghanistan.

In other violence, two U.S. and two Afghan government soldiers were wounded when their patrol came under attack in neighboring Uruzgan province, also Sunday, the U.S. military said in a statement.

None of the injuries was life-threatening, it said.

U.S. troops, though welcomed by many Afghans, have occasionally met opposition from residents in some parts of the country.

Monday, nearly 300 people complained to authorities in the eastern city of Jalalabad about searches and unfair detentions by U.S. troops, a provincial official said.

The protesters urged provincial governor Haji Deen Mohammad to help stop U.S.-led troops from breaking into homes during their searches for militants and drug runners.

They also called for the release of four men they said U.S. forces had detained in a raid several days ago.

"The governor promised that he would pass on their complaints," said the governor's spokesman, Faizanul Haq.

U.S. military spokesmen were not immediately available for comment on the protest.