Kabul: Three NATO soldiers and more than two
dozen other people including women and children were killed in
a wave of violence across war-troubled Afghanistan on Tuesday,
authorities said.
The soldiers and eight civilians including at least three
women and a child lost their lives in Taliban-style bomb
explosions from late yesterday, the alliance`s force and
Afghan officials said.
The NATO soldiers, whose nationalities were not
disclosed, died in two separate attacks, one in eastern and
the other in western Afghanistan, NATO`s International
Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said.
Both attacks took place today, ISAF said.
Afghan officials said two civilians were killed when a
bomb placed on a motorcycle went off in the southern province
of Ghazni, also today.
The blast took place just as a police convoy was about to
pass, said Mohammad Osman, commander of Afghanistan`s
southeastern police zone.
"Two civilians were martyred and another five were
wounded," he said.
In Kandahar province, also in the south and one of
Afghanistan`s most troubled regions, an influential tribal
elder was killed in a blast that authorities blamed on the
Taliban-led militants, said provincial spokesman Zalmai
Ayoubi.
Zakaria Khan, a pro-government tribal chieftain, died in
his timber shop in the town of Spin Boldak on the Pakistan
border, Ayoubi said.
The blast appeared as if someone had thrown a hand
grenade, he said, adding that two other elders had been
injured.
Elsewhere in Afghanistan, 17 Taliban-linked militants
were killed during an operation in the remote northwestern
province of Badghis, said army spokesman Najibullah Najibi.
PTI
