BADGHIS: An explosives-rigged motorcycle was seized in northwestern Badghis province, an official said on Wednesday.
The bike was found in the Zargar area of Moqur district late on Tuesday night, Col. Mohammad Jabar Saleh, the provincial police chief, told Pajhwok Afghan News.
He said the explosives attached to the motorcycle were defused with the assistance of the Spanish Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT).
No arrest has been made so far in connection with the explosives, but an investigation was underway, the police chief added.
Security personnel cordoned off the area and seized the motorcycle parked under a bridge, said Mullah Sarwar, a tribal elder from Zargar.
mrh//myn/mud
HERAT: A hundred weapons were surrendered to the Disbandment of Illegal Armed Groups (DIAG) programme by police in western Heart province, officials said on Wednesday.
The weapons were seized during operations by counterterrorism police in various areas of the province, police spokesman, Col. Noor Khan Nikzad, told Pajhwok Afghan News.
He said 59 Kalashnikovs, three machine guns, two rocket launchers, some pistols and other arms were handed over to DIAG. Nikzad added they were trying to disband illegal armed group to bring stability to the province.
A DIAG official in the western Zone, Gen. Lal Mohammad Rassoul, said the weapons would be transferred to the Afghan National Army 207th Zafar Military Crops after the required formalities were met.
—Ahmad Quraishi
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KABUL: Nine insurgents were killed and 23 others detained during joint operations in different provinces over the past 24 hours, the ministries of defence and interior said on Wednesday.
The Ministry of Interior said in a statement Afghan and international troops killed the militants in Kabul, Baghlan, Nimroz, Uruzgan, Logar, Ghazni, Khost and Paktika provinces.
At least 10 Kalashnikovs, three bombs, 60 kilograms of explosives, 24 bullets of light weapons, 400 of heavy guns, one walkie-talkie, three cars and as many motorbikes were seized.
Police discovered six bombs and as many mortar shells the militants wanted to use in attacks on government offices in Nangarhar, Logar and Helmand provinces, the ministry said.
A separate statement from defence ministry said Afghan soldiers defused six landmines in Sangin and Musa Qala districts of Helmand and 14 bombs in Panjwayee district of Kandahar.
Five Kalashnikovs with 10 magazines, two pistols, military uniforms, a walkie-talkie and some ammunition were seized in Nangarhar, Kunar and Kandahar provinces.
According to the press release, one Afghan soldier was killed in a security incident in the Mezan district of southern Zabul province.
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KUNAR: Five civilians and two insurgents were killed during a joint operation by Afghan and NATO-led troops in the Sawakai district of eastern Kunar province, the governor said on Wednesday.
The offensive was conducted in the Dewa Gul area two days ago, Syed Fazlullah Wahidi told Pajhwok Afghan News. He said the civilians killed included two children and a woman. Two militants were also killed in the operation.
But the district development council chief, Mumtaz Chambelai, put the number of people killed in the operation at nine. He said the dead included four members of a family.
One of the two militants killed was a local rebel commander named Mullah Basir, who had kidnapped a female foreign aid worker last year, Chambelai said.
On the other hand, the International Security Assistance Force media office rejected the claim that civilians had been killed during the operation.
In a statement, the force said seven Taliban insurgents were killed in the area.
A statement on the Taliban website said that five fighters and six Afghan troops were killed during clashes in Kunar, bordering Pakistan‘s tribal region of Bajaur.
–Khan Wali Salarzai
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NIMROZ: Three Taliban militants were killed during an air-strike by foreign troops in the Khashrod district of southwestern Nimroz province, an official said on Wednesday.
The overnight air raid was carried out by International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) troops in the Raziblechi area, the administrative head of Khashrod said.
Hashim Noorzai told Pajhwok Afghan News the identity of the dead was yet to be established. But an intelligence official said the Taliban had been killed in the bombing. Rebel leader Mullah Abdullah was among the dead, he revealed.
With no reaction from the Taliban so far, resident Fazal Ahmad alleged innocent people had been killed in the strike.
–Ramin
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