Spanta brother’s assassin among 15 killed

KABUL): Eight Afghan soldiers, six insurgents and the assassin of National Security Advisor Dr. Rangin Dadfar Spanta’s brother have been killed in separate incidents of violence, officials said on Tuesday.

Six Afghan National Army (ANA) service members were lost to a roadside bombing in the Gilan district of southern Ghazni province on Monday afternoon, the Ministry of Defence said in a statement.

Another two troops were killed in similar incidents in Zabul’s Shah Joy and Uruzgan’s Khas Uruzgan district, the ministry added.

In western Herat province, the killer of Ahmad Wali Tahiri, the brother of Spanta, was eliminated and his companion injured during an encounter on Monday afternoon, police spokesman Abdul Rauf Ahmadi told Pajhwok Afghan News.

Tahiri, also a district attorney, was shot dead with a pistol by an unidentified gunman in the Kurkh bazaar on Wednesday morning.

Elsewhere in the province, police raided the house of a Taliban Nisar Ahmad, was not present at his home at the time of the overnight operation.

The raid also resulted in the seizure of one million afghanis, some explosives, drugs and Taliban documents, he said. Gulran district which shares borders with Iran and Turkmenistan is 110 kilometres west of Herat City.

In Ghazni, two militants were killed when the bomb they were planting on a road went off prematurely in the first police district of the provincial capital, on Tuesday morning. Police chief Brig. Gen. Zarawar Zahid said the blast took place in front of the Clinic Gate in the old city.

Three insurgents were killed during a clash with police in the Sor Godar area on the outskirts of Lashkargah, the capital of southern Helmand province, late on Monday night.

The clash broke out after insurgents attacked three police posts in the area, sparking an hour-long battle with police. A fourth attacker was captured alive and one policeman injured, said police officer Col. Mohammad Ismail Hotak.

ma/mud

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