No laughing matter

KABUL (AFP) - Afghanistan's efforts to stem opium production have left 18 police dead and another 33 wounded this year, most of them in clashes during poppy eradication, a deputy minister said Saturday.

The deputy interior minister, General Mohammad Daud Daud, also announced that more than 26,000 hectares of opium fields out of a targeted 30,000 hectares for the year had been eradicated, an improvement over 2006.

About 160,000 hectares was under poppy cultivation in 2006, a 59 percent increase from the previous year, according to the government and UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

The area was expected to have risen this year although exact figures were pending a new survey due to be released in July.

"One counternarcotics policeman and 17 national police helping poppy eradication have been martyred," Daud told reporters.

"Three counternarcotics police and 30 national police have been wounded so far this year," he said.