| More than 75 killed by clashes, bomb in Afghanistan AFP
10/09/2006
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Kabul - A bomb ripped through a government vehicle in eastern Afghanistan and killed five people while the security forces reported they had killed more than 70 militants in clashes at the weekend. The remote-controlled bomb in eastern Nangarhar province killed a district's top three officials -- the chief of Khogyani district, his police commander and his intelligence chief. A policeman and a passer-by were also killed, Nangarhar police spokesman Ghafoor Khan said. The officials were travelling to a village to visit a school that the Taliban-led militants torched late Sunday, Khan said. Purported Taliban spokesman Yousuf Ahmadi claimed responsibility for the attack, saying his Taliban fighters detonated the bomb which was planted on a road. The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force announced meanwhile that ISAF and Afghan troops killed 52 insurgents in an operation in southern Afghanistan's Uruzgan province. Twenty rebels opened fire on the troops in the Charchino district on Sunday, it said in a statement. The troops repelled the attack and fighting continued for several hours, with 52 insurgents killed, it said. An Afghan security official clarified that earlier military announcements of 30 rebel deaths in the same area on Saturday and three more on Sunday were all part of the operation referred to by ISAF. Also on Sunday 16 insurgents were killed in neighbouring Helmand province and two were arrested, a defence ministry statement said statement said. And in the adjoining province of Kandahar, rebels attacked men from an Afghan construction company who were surveying a new road in Dand district, a police officer said. The security guards accompanying the team fought back. "In the fighting four police were wounded, five Taliban were killed and four Taliban were wounded. The Taliban also took two Pakistani labourers," the officer said on condition of anonymity. The coalition meanwhile announced it had arrested a suspected suicide car bomb maker late Friday in the western province of Farah. The NATO force that commands most of the foreign troops in Afghanistan said Sunday that attacks by Taliban had decreased over the past month, although the extremist movement was still a significant threat. The ISAF commander was in neighbouring Pakistan on Monday for talks on military cooperation and a possible meeting with President Pervez Musharraf, officials said. Britain's General David Richards, who last week became commander of foreign troops across Afghanistan, visited Islamabad amid concerns about Taliban militants moving across the rugged border with Pakistan. The ISAF commander for Kabul said meanwhile that security forces had identified two bomb cells operating in the capital, which has seen a surge in attacks. The increase in attacks in Kabul -- where there have been six deadly suicide blasts since last month -- appeared to be a result of military operations that have squeezed insurgents from other parts of the country, Brigadier General Frank Le Bot said.
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