KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AFP) — A suicide attack on a military convoy killed a US-led soldier and six Afghans in southern Afghanistan Friday, a day after a huge operation to drive Taliban rebels from a key stronghold.
The convoy was driving through a crowded bazaar in the troubled province of Helmand when it was hit by small-arms fire and then an insurgent detonated explosives strapped to his body, officials said.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility but the Taliban had vowed to launch suicide attacks to avenge this week's big offensive by NATO and Afghan troops in southern Kandahar province.
Helmand police chief Mohammad Hussain Andiwal said five Afghan civilians were killed, including two children, and four were injured. He earlier gave a toll of 10 civilians but said later that he had been "misinformed".
Additionally the US-led coalition said in a statement that "a coalition servicemember and a local national were killed this morning in Helmand province when their convoy was struck by a suicide bomber and small-arms fire."
The Afghan national was an interpreter, said the coalition, which did not mention civilian casualties.
The police chief blamed the attack on "enemies of Afghanistan" -- a term frequently used by Afghan officials to refer to the Taliban and their Al-Qaeda allies.
The Taliban, who were ousted from government by US-led forces in late 2001 for failing to hand over Osama bin Laden following the 9/11 attacks, have claimed almost all similar attacks in the past.
Meanwhile, the US-led coalition, which operates alongside NATO, said a soldier was killed instantly and another died later from gunshot wounds during operations against insurgents in Helmand late Thursday.
It did not give their nationalities and there was no claim of responsibility.
Separately, in the western province of Farah, Afghan police forces and NATO launched an operation in Bala Buluk district overnight which left eight Taliban and one policeman dead, provincial police chief Khalilullah Rehmani told AFP.
Police also arrested 20 suspects on suspicion of aiding the rebels, he said.
The Taliban have stepped up an insurgency in the last two years, causing thousands of civilian casualties as well as killing foreign and Afghan troops trying to extend the writ of President Hamid Karzai's fragile government.
The government has been on the back foot since a major jail break a week ago in Kandahar, the birthplace of the Taliban regime, in which hundreds of insurgents escaped.
Taliban militants then streamed into villages in the Arghandab district of Kandahar province early this week, prompting the joint NATO and Afghan operation involving more than 1,000 troops.
The Afghan defence ministry said Thursday that all militants had been cleared from the district by the offensive, which left 56 militants, two Afghan soldiers and a civilian dead.
NATO did not confirm the casualties but said the "highly successful" operation involving air strikes would help allay concerns about the force's capabilities following the jail break.
With nearly 70,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan, Karzai has come under growing pressure from his Western allies to improve security.
Separately, a French businessman who was abducted in southern Afghanistan last month has been released safely with two Afghan colleagues, the French Foreign Ministry said Friday.
Afghan officials blamed the Taliban for seizing 37-year-old Johan Freckhaus in Ghazni province on May 29, but there was never any claim of responsibility for the abduction.
Copyright © 2010 AFP. All rights reserved. More »
