22 die in major Afghanistan raid

Kabul — Hundreds of insurgents in a convoy of trucks attacked a police headquarters in southeastern Afghanistan, triggering a gunbattle Sunday that killed 22 people, officials said. It was one of the largest shows of antigovernment force in more than a year.

The fierce fighting in Paktika province was the latest in a wave of violence that has underscored just how unstable Afghanistan still is after coalition forces toppled the Taliban in late 2001.

The assault began shortly before midnight Saturday when about 400 guerrillas travelling in trucks drove across the border from Pakistan and attacked the police headquarters in the province's Barmal district, about 200 kilometres southeast of Kabul, said provincial governor Mohammed Ali Jalali. It wasn't clear how he knew the men came from Pakistan.

Firing rockets, heavy machine-guns and grenades, the attackers easily took over the office...

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