KANDAHAR: A tribal elder, a policeman, and a government official have been killed in three separate targeted killings in southern Kandahar province, officials said on Wednesday.
Unknown gunmen shot and killed the elder near his home in the troubled Zheri district, the district chief, Niaz Mohammad Sarhadi, told Pajhwok Afghan News. He identified the elder as Haji Malang Jan, who he said had no link with the government but used to attend meetings of the regional council.
Abul Haleem, the provincial head of the Department of Hajj and Religious Affairs, was shot dead by unknown gunmen in Kandahar City, the provincial capital, on Wednesday while walking home. Police Chief Brig. Gen. Abdul Raziq told Pajhwok Afghan News that gunmen mounted on motorcycles opened fire on him in the Chauni area at around 1:30 pm. The attackers managed to flee but police were searching for them. Haleem was the second Hajj and Religious Affairs director to be killed in the province.
On Tuesday, a policeman was shot dead in the district, according to Sarhadi, who identified the slain cop as Shah Mohammad, who had gone home on leave.
The Taliban claimed responsibility.
— Bashir Ahmad Naadim
KABUL: The Interior Ministry announced that the attack on Intercontinental Hotel that left 21 people dead ended when the last suicide bomber blew himself up at 8:00 am Wednesday, killing two policemen and a civilian Spanish national. The attack began when a group of suicide bombers entered the hotel at around 10:30 pm.
Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid confirmed the final blast and said that the fighter who blew himself up had been in contact with him. Contradicting official accounts, Mujahid said more than 50 locals and foreigners were killed in the attack. The fighters entered from the eastern side of the hotel and were outfitted with Kalashnikovs, machine guns, RPGs, hand grenades, and suicide vests, Mujahid added.
Nine Afghan locals, two policemen, one Spanish national, and nine suicide bombers died in the attack. In addition, 13 civilians, five government officials, and two ISAF solders were injured. Most of the civilians killed in the attack were not high profile targets, but ordinary Afghans. However, a source in the Supreme Court told Pajhwok Afghan News that the provincial judge from Logar province, Abdul Hanan, was killed in the attack.
See Pajhwok’s story.
— Javed Hamim Kakar & Zarghona Salehi
KUNDUZ: One person was killed, four people were injured, and six people were arrested by coalition forces when a rocket hit a house in Kunduz City at 9:00 pm Tuesday night.
The wounded included a woman and a 12-year-old child. The source of the attack is unclear and the matter remains under investigation.
— Wahidullah
KUNAR: Over 50 insurgents have been killed in a joint operation by Afghan and international forces in eastern Kunar province, officials said on Wednesday.
The operation began three days ago in the Sangar area of the Wata Pur district, Sayed Fazlullah Wahidi, the governor, told Pajhwok Afghan News.
The Taliban-appointed district chief, Samiullah, district police chief Noor Akbar, judge Mullah Hammas, and two top militant commanders, Naqeebullah and Safar, were among the dead, according to the governor.
The ISAF media office for Eastern Afghanistan said that more than a hundred militants suffered casualties in the operation. ISAF said its soldiers had also suffered casualties, but did not give an exact number.
Zabiullah Mujahid, the Taliban spokesman, confirmed the death of six of his fighters and the injury of 10, and claimed to have killed nine ISAF soldiers wounded 12 others.
–Khan Wali Salarzai
MAIDAN WARDAK: A group of suspected insurgents attacked a convoy of trucks carrying logistics supplies for foreign troops on the Kabul-Kandahar highway in central Maidan Wardak province on Wednesday, an official said.
The insurgents set three trucks ablaze in the Syedabad district at around 11:00 am, the district chief, Dr. Muslim, told Pajhwok Afghan News. There were no casualties, he said.
— Farid Karimi
URUZGAN: Eleven local policemen have gone missing in the Charchina district of central Uruzgan province, Police chief Col. Gulab Khan said on Wednesday.
But a security official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Pajhwok Afghan News that the policemen had abandoned their job and fled with their arms.
He did not know if the policemen had joined the Taliban. There has been no comment from the Taliban about the incident.
— Ahmad Omaid Khpalwak
ZABUL: Zabul’s deputy police chief was injured along with his bodyguard in a roadside explosion in southern Zabul province, an official said.
The incident took place in the Kakrano Chino area of the province while Ghulam Jailani Farahi, the provincial deputy police chief, was visiting the police checkpoint, Abdul Nabi Elham, the provincial police chief, told Pajhwok Afghan News.
See Pajhwok’s story.
— Nasim Hotak
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