10 dead in fresh wave of violence

PUL-I-ALAM/ASADABAD (PAN commander were among 10 others killed during separate incidents of violence in three provinces over the past 24 hours, officials said on Thursday.

The incidents took place in central Logar, southern Helmand and eastern Kunar provinces, according to officials.

A commander was among four Taliban insurgents killed during an airstrike by Afghan forces in Kunar on Thursday morning, the governor’s spokesman, Din Mohammad Darwesh, told Pajhwok Afghan News.

The Afghan forces pounded a compound in the Padkhab area, killing Taliban leader Mullah Samiullah along with three of his accomplices.

Darwesh said Samiullah was involved in bomb blasts, assassinations and other insurgent attacks. He was also involved in the killing of eight Afghan workers on their way home from a US military base in Logar.

Also on Thursday, at least six rockets were fired into the Logar police headquarters around 11am, killing one policeman and injuring six others people.

The attack also caused damages to the police building, said Dr. Sherdili, who works at the health section of the headquarters.

The rockets were fired from a direction southwest of Pul-i-Alam, the provincial capital, he said, adding police responded with mortar fire.

A resident of the Baboos area, Rafiullah, said police fired at 50 rockets into the area after the attack on their headquarters. A house was hit with a police-fired rocket, but there were no casualties, he added.

The resident also said three militants were killed when a suicide vest in their possession went off accidently in the Nad Ali district of southern Helmand province.

The blast was confirmed by Helmand governor’s spokesman, Omar Zwak, who added the incident took place inside a house.

In Kunar, one policeman and three insurgents were killed during a lash in the Wata Pur district late on Wednesday night.

The police headquarters acting chief Col. Abdul Qadir said the clash broke out after the insurgents attacked a police post in the Garmol area.

A Taliban spokesman confirmed the death of three fighters in the airstrike in Logar, but said nothing about Helmand and Kunar incidents.

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