KABUL: At least one civilian was killed and 14 policemen were injured during a clash between the two sides in the Reshkhor area of Kabul, officials said on Tuesday.

The clash erupted when the authorities tried to raze about 250 houses built on government-owned land in the neighbourhood, a police officer said.

A delegation of police, the attorney office and the municipality department wanted to wrest back the land, but residents -- most of them armed and backed by some Afghan army personnel who also live in the area, opened fire on police, the deputy police chief told Pajhwok Afghan News.

Brig. Gen. Mohammad Daud Amini said 14 policemen injured in the incident were evacuated to different hospitals, with one of them in critical condition.  One policeman has been missing while one resident was killed and at least two others were injured.

The situation turned violent when the residents started pelting rocks and opened fire at the baton-wielding police who had no weapons, he said.

The officer accused house owners of defying repeated warnings from the authorities concerned to vacate the land. Police were escorting the delegation when they were attacked, he said.

The situation had returned to normal and the municipality destroyed nearly a dozen houses, Gen. Amini concluded.

Source: Pajhwok Afghan News Agency