Daily Security Brief: July 10, 2011

BADGHIS: The Maqur district chief was killed and five others injured, including the head of the education department, in a roadside bombing in the northwestern province of Badghis, an official said.

District chief Mullah Daud was killed at 7:30 am Sunday when his vehicle was passing the Sang-i-Atash area of Maqur district, the administrative head of governor’s office, Hajji Sharafuddin, told Pajhwok Afghan News.

Three guards, a civilian, and education department head Mullah Azizullah were wounded in the explosion, he said.

The Taliban has taken responsibility for the attack. Taliban spokesman Qari Yousuf Ahmadi confirmed that the explosion took place in Sang-i-Atash area of the district, killing the district chief. He added that eight policemen were killed and a police vehicle completely destroyed.

— Abdul Latif Ayyubi

GHAZNI (PAN): A large store of munitions was recovered and destroyed during a joint Afghan and coalition forces operation in southern Ghazni province, officials said on Sunday.

The operation was launched Sunday in the Gabar area of the Andar district, Daud Shah Wafadar, the Tandar military corps second unit commander told Pajhwok Afghan News, adding that one injured insurgent had been seized along with a motorcycle during the joint operation.

But Zabiullah Mujahid, the Taliban spokesman, denied that any munitions had been seized, adding that a civilian was injured during the operation led by Afghan and foreign troops.

Similar operations have been going on for two days in Andar, as well as in the Muqur and Waghiz districts. Wafadar said the operations had yielded no developments in the other two districts so far.

— Mirwais Himmat

FARYAB: Fourteen religious students were injured when a rocket hit their school in central Faryab province, police said on Sunday.

The incident took place in Shakh village of Qisar district late on Saturday evening, police spokesman, Syed Masoud Yaqubi, told Pajhwok Afghan News.

He said insurgents wanted to hit a security post in the area with rockets, but they missed their target and hit a madrassa, injuring 14 students.

— Zabihullah Ihsas

HELMAND: A Taliban fighter was killed and a policeman injured during a clash in southern Helmand province, an official said on Sunday.

The clash broke out in Lashkargah city when a group of insurgents attacked a police patrol, police chief Brig. Gen. Abdul Hakim Angar told Pajhwok Afghan News.

Qari Yousuf Ahmadi, a Taliban spokesman, said that the slain fighter, Abdullah, was a resident of Helmand. He claimed six policemen were killed and four others injured in the attack.

— Zainullah Stanikzai

KABUL: Three international soldiers were killed on Sunday in the country’s east and south, the alliance said.

Two International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) servicemembers died following insurgent attacks in the eastern and southern parts of the country, the force said in a brief statement.

The third soldier died in a roadside bombing in southern Afghanistan, ISAF said in a separate statement.

In line with its policy, ISAF did not disclose the nationalities of the soldiers or the exact location where they were killed. Mostly American and British soldiers are fighting insurgents in the southern provinces, while US soldiers are deployed in the eastern parts of the country.

Since the beginning of 2011, 293 foreign soldiers, including 211 US troops, have been killed in Afghanistan. The toll was last year 711.

KANDAHAR: Three policemen were killed and seven people injured in separate roadside bomb explosions in the southern province of Kandahar on Sunday.

One explosion took place in the 5th police district of Kandahar City at around 8:30 am Sunday, the provincial media office spokesman, Zulmai Aube, told Pajhwok Afghan News. In addition to the three policemen killed, three other policemen were injured as well as three civilians, including a child.

The provincial hospital doctor on duty said on condition of anonymity that six injured people were taken to the hospital, some in critical condition.

Another blast hit a foreign soldiers’ convoy at about 7:00 am in the 8th police district, injuring a soldier, according to acting provincial police chief Gen. Abdul Razaq.

— Bashir Ahmed Naadem

LOGAR: Two teenagers were killed in a bomb blast in the central province of Logar, officials said on Sunday.

The incident took place at 12:00 am when a bomb placed beneath a small bridge detonated in Padkhwab Roghani area of Baraki Barak district, the provincial police chief, Col. Ghulam Sakhi Roghlaiwani, told Pajhwok Afghan News.

Security personnel were defusing two bombs when the children were killed by another explosion, he said.

Taliban asked the children to remove the bombs from under the small bridge, the district chief, Mohammad Rahim Amin, said.

The 13-year-old and 15-year-old boys were students, he said.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid has not commented on this incident. He claimed the Taliban killed two US soldiers and injured four others in a roadside bombing in the district.

MAIDAN WARDAK: Two policemen were killed and another was injured in a blast in central Maidan Wardak province, an official said on Sunday.

The incident took place late on Saturday in the Da Afghanan area of the province, Shahidullah Shahid, the governor’s spokesman, told Pajhwok Afghan News.

An eyewitness of the incident, Mohammad Nasim, said that the insurgents were in waiting for the policemen when the blast took place.

Noor Agha, a local commander for Hezb-i-Islami, claimed the responsibility, and said in a telephone interview that five policemen were killed in the half-hour clash.

— Farid Karimi

NANGARHAR: Three militants were killed and six others injured in a blast caused by their own explosive in eastern Nangarhar province, an official said on Sunday.

The incident took place late on Saturday in the Lal Pur district when the militants were planting a roadside bomb in the area, an Afghan military official, Col. Nasser Kamawal, told Pajhwok Afghan News.

Other militants took their injured comrades and left the dead at the scene, he said.

— Moeed Hashimi

URUZGAN: A district intelligence chief was among four people killed during a clash with insurgents in the southwestern province of Uruzgan, an official on Sunday.

Elsewhere in the province, four policemen were injured when their vehicle hit a roadside bomb late on Saturday in the Charino district, provincial crime branch chief Col. Gulab Khan said. No one has claimed responsibility for that incident.

The Gizab district intelligence chief and three policemen were killed in the clash, which took place in the district late on Saturday, crime branch police chief Col. Gulab Khan said.

He added that 10 Taliban militants had been killed and that hidden Taliban fighters fired on police while they were collecting the dead and their weapons. The Ministry of the Interior said Sunday that rebel commander Mullah Bismullah had been arrested, and that one rocket launcher, one PKM machine gun, eight AK-47 machine guns and three radio handsets had been recovered in the operation.

The Taliban has not commented on the incident, but spokesman Qari Yousuf Ahmadi said that the Taliban had killed many police in different areas of Tirinkot City.

— Ahmad Omid Khpalwak

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