An armed Afghan policeman stands guard near anti-Pakistan protesters in the capital Kabul

KANDAHAR, July 15 (Islamonline.net & News Agencies) – Ishak Zai Mama, police chief in the southern Ghorak district, and four of his bodyguards were killed by unknown gunmen as they traveled on a road 90 kilometers (56 miles) northwest of the Kandahar, a police spokesman confirmed Tuesday, July 15.

The attackers sprayed their vehicle with bullets before fleeing, Mohammad Salim Ehsas told Agence France Presse (AFP).

He said police launched a manhunt for the gunmen and expressed conviction they were remnants of the ousted Taliban regime.

Four people ambushed a police patrol to the south of Kandahar city on Saturday, July 6, the same day unidentified gunmen shot and injured an Afghan military commander and his driver near the southern city of Kandahar.

Afghan forces had come under repeated attacks over the last few days, amid rising discontent among people.

About 100 Afghan government troops and civilians have been killed or wounded in bomb blasts and rocket strikes across southern Afghanistan since the beginning of the year.

On Saturday, a makeshift bomb exploded near a U.N. building in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad, one day before a squad of NATO troops arrived in Kabul ahead of the organization's takeover of command of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) which patrols the city.

Afghan officials argue Taliban fighters and their al Qaeda allies are plotting their Afghan raids from the safety of neighboring Pakistan.

Islamabad countered it was doing its best to stop militants crossing back and forth to Afghanistan.

Meanwhile two people were killed Monday, July 14, in a battle between rival clans of a tribe on the outskirts of Kandahar.

The two clans of the Popalzi tribe exchanged fire with automatic weapons some six kilometers northwest of the city.

Police restored order at the scene of the fighting on Tuesday.

Priority

"We are encouraged by the progress made so far in Afghanistan," said Khalilzad

In another development, unknown gunmen attacked a U.S. Special Forces convoy with small arms and an improvised explosive device in northeastern Afghanistan but there were no casualties, U.S. Lieutenant Colonel Douglas Lefforge told reporters at Bagram Air Base, 50 kilometers (31 miles) north of Kabul.

The convoy took small arms fire from unknown gunmen immediately after the device, which was planted on the road, went off near the lead vehicle, he said.

Lefforge was unable to say who the attackers were, but similar attacks have been blamed on Taliban and al-Qaeda fugitives, or pro-former premier Gulbuddin Hekmatyar elements.

A U.S.-led force of some 11,500 troops is currently hunting down Taliban and al-Qaeda holdouts mainly in the troubled southeastern Afghan-Pakistan border area.

Meanwhile, a U.S. envoy reaffirmed Washington’s commitment to Afghanistan, asserting it remains one of the top foreign policy priorities of U.S. President George Bush.

"We are encouraged by the progress made so far in Afghanistan," Zalmay Khalilzad, Bush's special envoy on Afghanistan and Iraq, told reporters at a press conference.

Khalilzad arrived in Afghanistan on Saturday for a week-long visit to hold talks with Afghan leaders on how to accelerate the pace of development in the country.

"I have had very fruitful discussions with the Afghan government officials on how to structure and implement an acceleration strategy," he said.

The U.S. approved of Monday's appointments in the Afghan National Army and was looking forward to a restructuring of Afghan defense ministry by the Afghan government, Khalilzad said.

President Bush was delighted with the progress Afghanistan has made towards road construction and the formation of a new constitution during the past 18 months since the fall of the hard-line Taliban, he added.

"The U.S. wants to congratulate Afghans on the ongoing consultations taking place on a new constitution."

The envoy stressed Washington was looking forward to seeing Afghanistan adopt a sound constitution that puts the country "on the road to democracy and success and ensures the rights of all Afghans."

A three-way commission set up last month comprising Afghanistan, Pakistan and U.S. security officials Tuesday established a sub-committee to examine recent border disputes between Afghanistan and Pakistan, Khalilzad said.

"The commission assessed recent progress in combating al-Qaeda and Taliban remnants and shared information on the security situation," he added.

Some 500 Afghans protested in Kabul Tuesday against alleged border violations by Pakistani troops, just a week after a mob ransacked Pakistan's embassy here.

The demonstrators, including dozens of women, again complained that Pakistani troops had entered eastern border regions, the scene of recent skirmishes with Afghan militias.

"We condemn the Pakistani incursion and we ask the government to take immediate steps to avoid any infiltration into our territory," said Marzia Kakar, deputy director of the pro-government Freedom and Democratic Movement which organized the rally.