Kandahar: The chief of a district key to
NATO counter-insurgency efforts in Afghanistan was killed by a
car bomb on Tuesday, as four alliance troops died in attacks across
the country.
The district chief, his son and a bodyguard were killed
by the remote control blast in southern Afghanistan`s Taliban
heartland of Kandahar city, deputy provincial police chief
Fazil Ahmad Sherzad told AFP.
An AFP reporter saw three charred bodies being removed
from a burning car in the city, birthplace of the Taliban
movement where many of the 30,000 troops US President Barack
Obama ordered to Afghanistan late last year are headed.
"Abdul Jabar, the district chief of Arghandab, one of his
sons and a bodyguard were killed when a car bomb exploded near
their vehicle in Kandahar city district one," Sherzad said.
The attack came as four NATO troops -- two British, one
American and one Polish - were killed in a series of incidents
in eastern and southern Afghanistan.
Violence, mainly linked to a Taliban-led insurgency, has
claimed the lives of 264 NATO soldiers since the start of the
year, according to an AFP tally based on the independent
icasualties.org website.
Last year, 520 NATO troops were killed in Afghanistan in
what was then the deadliest year for foreign forces since the
2001 US-led invasion brought down the Taliban regime.
NATO`s International Security Assistance Force, whose
estimated 1,42,000 troops in Afghanistan are set to increase
to 1,50,000 by August, is facing an increasingly emboldened
insurgency.
Military planners say operations against the Taliban
focusing on Kandahar have already begun and will escalate in
coming months as thousands more US and NATO forces deploy to
Afghanistan in an effort to bring the war to an end.
NATO operations are focused on districts surrounding
Kandahar that are used as a base for the insurgency,
particularly Zhari in the west and Arghandab in the north.
They are also aimed at cutting insurgents` access to the city.
Today`s attacks came as the chief of Sayedabad district,
in Wardak province, south of the capital Kabul, was kidnapped
by two armed men while driving to his office, deputy
provincial police chief Ahmad Ali Rasekh told AFP.
"We believe this is the work of the Taliban," Rasekh
said.
Up to 12 policemen, five rebels and two civilians were
also killed in a wave of violence overnight yesterday across
the country, the interior ministry and a police officials
said.
PTI
