Taliban delay French hostage decision

By Sayed Salahuddin

KABUL (Reuters) - Afghanistan's Taliban extended its deadline for a deal for the release of a French hostage until after Sunday's French presidential election, but also mounted an ambush and a string of suicide bombings that killed 10 police.

Eight Afghan police were killed in a six-hour gunbattle after a Taliban ambush and two were killed when a suicide bomber rammed a car into their vehicle and blew himself up, Afghan police said.

Separately, the U.S.-led coalition forces said they killed several leaders of the Taliban in controversial recent clashes in the western province of Herat, in which Afghan authorities say many civilians died.

The Taliban leadership had put off Saturday's deadline for a hostage deal as a sign of mercy, Taliban spokesman Qari Mohammad Yousuf said by phone from an undisclosed location.

"We have extended it (the ultimatum) until the elections are over," Yousuf said.

Aid worker Eric Damfreville and three Afghan colleagues would be freed if at least one of the Taliban's demands were met, he said, but added the Taliban had heard nothing from authorities seeking the aid workers' release.

The Taliban and its allies have vowed to step up suicide attacks against Western troops and President Hamid Karzai's government in a year both sides see as decisive in the battle for control of the country.

Saturday marked the second deadline from the Taliban kidnappers, who last month grabbed two French aid workers and three Afghans working for Terre d'Enfance, an agency helping children in southern Afghanistan.