Kabul - A suicide attack killed at least three civilians and
wounded seven in Kabul on Thursday while the Afghan army claimed to
have killed at least 30 Taliban insurgents in the west of the
country.
The bomber detonated a vehicle packed with explosives near a
military patrol in the east of the capital, damaging shops and homes,
Alishah Paktiawal, police chief in charge of the investigation, said.
Spokesmen for the NATO-led International Security Assistance
Froces (ISAF) said four soldiers were slightly wounded and two of
their vehicles were damaged.
Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid claimed nine US soldiers were
killed in the blast, which he said was carried out by a man named
Maulavi Zabair Ahmad.
Witness Mohammad Karim said he saw ISAF troops evacuating wounded
US soldiers from the scene on Jalalabad Road, an area where several
military camps are located.
Taliban militants, whose regime was toppled in a US military
invasion in late 2001, rely heavily on the use of suicide attacks.
Meanwhile, an Afghan army commander in western Afghanistan claimed
government forces supported by NATO warplanes killed at least 30
Taliban militants in an encounter that left three Afghan troops dead.
The clash took place in Bala Bulok district of south-western Farah
province on Wednesday when Afghan army and police conducted an
operation after learning rebels were in the area.
Western region army commander Jalander Shah Behnam said the
Afghans called in ISAF air support after suffering casualties.
'Thirty Taliban, including their commanders and foreign fighters,
were killed in the clash and air bombing,' the army commander said.
Mullah Noor Ali, Mullah Baaz Mohammad, Mullah Murad Uruzgani,
Mullah Salam and Mullah Toor Helmandi, the Taliban commander were
among those, who were killed in aerial bombing, the defence ministry
said in a statement.
The US military said in a separate statement that their
forces, along with Afghan security forces, killed several other
Taliban militants in the Sangin district of southern Helmand
province.
In another incident, Taliban militants torched more than 20
trucks carrying supplies for the US military in Paktika province on
Wednesday night, Ghamai Mohammadyar, spokesman for provincial
governor said.
The attack also killed a truck driver and wounded three others,
Mohammadyar said, adding that Afghan and US forces who arrived at the
scene killed three insurgents in a firefight.
Violence is on the rise in Afghanistan despite the presence of
around 70,000 international troops and more than 160,000 Afghan
security personnel. Around 1,500 people, most of them insurgents -
have been killed this year.
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