July 3 (Reuters) - Following are security developments in Afghanistan reported at 1400 GMT on Friday. * denotes new or updated items. * PAKTIKA - A helicopter operated by a contractor to carry food and other supplies to coalition troops was destroyed after making an emergency landing in southeastern Paktika province, the U.S. military said in a statement. The helicopter's crew reported mechanical problems and made an emergency landing. The crew were unhurt and were picked up by another helicopter in the area, the military said. Unidentified people were seen taking items from the grounded helicopter, which burst into flames shortly after, it said. ZABUL - Twenty militants and one Afghan army officer were killed in a clash between the Taliban and Afghan and foreign troops in southeastern Zabul's Shinkai district on Thursday, provincial police chief Abdul Rahman Sarjang said. He said documents found on six of the dead insurgents indicated they were from Pakistan. HERAT - A suicide bomber on a motorcycle wounded two soldiers from NATO-led forces near Shindand in west Afghanistan, a spokesman for the alliance said. Regional police commander General Ekramuddin Yawar said an Italian military vehicle was hit by the bomber. FARAH - One policeman was killed by Taliban insurgents in an attack on a security checkpoint in Farah City in west Afghanistan late on Thursday, the area's police commander said. Three insurgents were killed in the clash, he said. KHOST - A roadside bomb killed five security guards -- four Afghans and a foreigner -- working for an Indian road construction company in eastern Khost province's Waze Khan district, local official Abdul Wali Zadran said. Another seven were wounded. BALKH - A suicide bomber detonated an explosives-laden car in northern Balkh province's capital Mazar-i-Sharif but there were no casualties, the Interior Ministry said in a statement. (Compiled by Hamid Shalizi and Golnar Motevalli; Editing by Paul Tait)
In this picture released exclusively to Reuters on January 31, 2009, Taliban militants with their weapons pose for pictures in an undisclosed location in Afghanistan January 30, 2009. Picture taken January ...
