General John Allen. Between 20 and 22 July, NATO troops killed 50 Haqquani fighters in an attack on their camp. 24 July: A US military investigation discovered that a portion of the 2 billion dollars in funds given by the United States in contracts had fallen in the hands of the insurgency. 27 July: The mayor of Kandahar, Ghulam Haidar Hameedi, was killed in a suicide attack. 28 July: Suicide bombers and snipers attacked the police headquarters of Tarin Kowt in a large-scale attack which killed more than 21 people including Afghan reporter Ahmed Omed Khpulwak. According to the Afghan interior minister, for the 2-year period between 19 March 2009 and 19 March 2011, 2770 Afghan policemen were killed and 4785 wounded while 1052 Afghan soldiers were killed and 2413 wounded. 31 July: 10 Afghan policemen were killed in a suicide attack in Lashkar Gah where Afghan security forces had taken over from NATO a week before. The same day, 10 Afghan guards who were protecting a NATO supplies convoy were killed in the attack. One day before, 5 Afghans soldiers and 2 NATO soldiers were killed in a bomb attack on their patrol. August: 6 August: 31 American Special Forces soldiers were killed in the crash of their helicopter probably shot down during a fight with the Taliban. Seven Afghan soldiers were also killed. This was the biggest death toll for NATO troops in the whole war. Most of the American soldiers killed were Navy SEALs. 7 August: 4 NATO soldiers were killed, including two French Foreign Legion members, and 5 others were wounded. 2012 The Taliban insurgency continued into 2012. Timeline August: 27 August: Taliban insurgents in the Taliban-controlled southern Helmand area killed 17 civilians – fifteen men and two women – who were attending a party. A government official said that the victims were beheaded for celebrating with music and mixgender dancing in the Musa Qala district of Helmand, which ran contrary to the Taliban's extreme brand of Islam. Later, however, a provincial government official said that the 17 people killed were due to a fight between two Taliban commanders over two women (who were also killed). The civilians were either beheaded or had their throats cut, but some showed signs of gunshot wounds or beatings. The attacks were condemned by Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai, who ordered an investigation into the attack, the leader of the NATO