Daily Security Brief: October 31, 2011

LAGHMAN: The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) targeted and killed two alleged mine planters during an overnight airstrike in eastern Laghman province, an official and residents said on Monday.

The incident took place in Shaheed Baba area near provincial capital, Mehtarlam, on Sunday night, an official at the police headquarters said on condition of anonymity.

The militants used pickaxes to dig the road for planting bombs when they were attacked by an ISAF aircraft, he said.  The two were residents of Bisram area of the city, the official said.

A local resident, Nazir Ahmad, said he heard the sound of a blast at around 1am and came to know in the morning that two mine planters had been killed in the air strike.

–Obaidullah Baidar

mas/ma

MAIDAN WARDAK: Four children were killed when a landmine they were playing with exploded in Maidan Shahr, the capital of central Maidan Wardak province, on Monday, an official said.

The children had found the device planted in a farm. The bomb went off when the four children started playing with it in Khuwajagan area of the city, the governor’s spokesman, Shahidullah Shahid, told Pajhwok Afghan News.

The dead included three boys and a girl, he said.

Local resident, Ainullah said all the four children were killed on the spot in the blast.

–Hakim Basharat

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NANGARHAR: An individual was found dead and six civilians were injured in two separate incidents in eastern Nangarhar province, officials said on Monday.

Security personnel found the body with early on Monday morning in the Ghorab area of Chaparhar district, Mualim Mashuq, the administrative head of the town, told Pajhwok Afghan News.

With one arm chopped off, the body was sent to the district hospital to ascertain whether the limb was cut off as a result of a bomb explosion or by the Taliban, he said.

Elsewhere in the province, a powerful explosion rocked the second police district of Jalalabad, resident Abdul Basir said. Five women, including a child, sustained slight injuries and windowpanes of nearby buildings were smashed.

The governor’s spokesman, Ahmad Zia Abdulzai, said the blast resulted from missiles fired by militants from an unknown direction.

He added the missiles landed near Mia Omar High School. However, the spokesman later changed his statement and said it was a bomb explosion, causing no casualties.

Zabihullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman, said they had fired a missile on Sunday night at the Jalalabad airport, where foreign troops were stationed. The international soldiers suffered casualties, he claimed.

–Abdul Mueed Hashimi

mrh/myn/mud

SAMANGAN: A parliamentarian was wounded along with his driver and his security guard killed in a traffic accident in the Hazrat-i-Sultan district of northern Samangan province, an official said on Monday.

Wolesi Jirga member Makhdoom Mohibullah met the accident on his way to Mazar-i-Sharif in the Yaka Toot area, the provincial traffic officer, Lt. Col. Mohammad Ibrahim, told Pajhwok Afghan News.

The Samangan MP and his driver were shifted to a health facility of International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Balkh. Ibrahim blamed the accident on rash driving.

–Barat

mm/mud

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