Kabul: Two separate blasts in southern
Afghanistan killed 14 people, including a group of insurgents
who were trying to rig an improvised bomb against Afghan and
foreign forces, officials said on Tuesday.
In the volatile Nawzad district of Helmand province a
group of seven Taliban militants died while trying to cut a
pipe bomb and fit it into a vehicle yesterday, provincial
spokesman Daud Ahmadi said.
"The explosive-packed pipe detonated killing a Taliban
commander along with six of his fighters," he said.
Roadside bombs are the most commonly used weapons by
the Taliban, who are leading a 10-year insurgency and are
responsible for the bulk of deaths among the US-led coalition
and Afghan security forces.
On the same day, seven people, including six women,
were killed in an explosion in Nawa district of the same
province inside a house used by a local Taliban commander
Mullah Manan, a senior security official said.
"We have intelligence that the Taliban commander was
making bombs inside the house," Mohammad Ismail Hotak said.
Helmand has experienced increasing militancy over the
past couple of years despite Afghan and NATO-led operations.
The number of civilian casualties, many of them killed
by roadside bombs, hit a record of 3,021 last year, according
to a UN annual report.
PTI
