2ND Five suicide attacks in two days in Afghanistan, 9 die

Deutsche Presse Agentur
Published: Monday September 18, 2006

Kabul- The fifth suicide bomber in 48 hours in Afghanistan killed three Afghan police and injured a fourth policeman and 10 civilians in the capital city Kabul on Monday, officials said. Ali Shah Paktiawal, Kabul police spokesman, said the explosion occurred after police became suspecious of the car and attempted to arrest the driver.

Nine people including 4 NATO troops have been killed and at least 60 others wounded by suicide bombers in the past two days.

A suicide attack earlier Monday killed four soldiers of the NATO- led International Security Assistance Forces (ISAF) in Kandahar, and injured at least 25 Afghan civilians, officials said.

Major Quentin Innis NATO-led ISAF spokesman in Kandahar said, the attack occurred around 9.30 am (0500 GMT) in Zhari district, 20 kilometres west of Kandahar city. Several soldiers were also injured in the attack, though most of the injured civilians were children, he said.

Yesterday a suicide attack targeted a US military convoy on the outskirts of Afghan capital Kabul, injured two US soldiers and two Afghan civilians.

In a separate incident, suspected Taliban insurgents and Afghan police clashed in Helmand province adjacent to Kandahar, and 13 Taliban insurgents were killed, said Haji Muhaiuddin Khan, spokesman to the governor of Helmand.

He said the clash took place in Nahri Saraj Area of Helmand province, and that there were no casualties or damage to Afghan police, he said.

Helmand is one of the most volatile southern provinces, where over 4,000 British troops are based fighting the insurgency. Helmand is the leading province in poppy cultivation, which had 162 per cent production increase in 2006.

Zhari is one of the two districts where NATO declared end of its 15-day counterinsurgency offensive, during which it claimed to have killed over 510 Taliban fighters. According to ISAF, at least 21 NATO-led soldiers lost their lives, and hundreds of people were displaced from their houses.

On Sunday, police arrested four Taliban insurgents in Kabul, charged with organizing bomb blasts in the Afghan capital and attacks against foreign soldiers.

One of the arrested appeared on state TV Afghanistan and said the group's aim was jihad against US soldiers.

© 2006 DPA - Deutsche Presse-Agenteur