Three children among 34 killed in Afghanistan
By Sharif Khoram – 1 day ago

KABUL (AFP) — Three Afghan children were killed Friday by a mortar left over from a battle between police and Taliban, as bomb attacks and clashes left 31 more people dead, most of them insurgents, officials said.

There has been a steady increase in attacks and clashes across Afghanistan in recent weeks as US military reinforcements move into the south and Afghan forces target insurgent hotspots ahead of August 20 presidential elections.

The children, aged four to 10, were killed Friday when they touched a mortar shell left over from an exchange of fire the previous day between Taliban and police in the central province of Ghazni, police said.

Another child was wounded, said provincial police chief Khial Baz Sherbaz.

Separately two roadside bombs exploded an hour apart in the eastern province of Nangarhar on Friday, killing six policemen, provincial government spokesman Ahmad Zia Abdulzai told AFP.

Also in Nangarhar, a man was killed late Thursday by a bomb he was trying to plant inside a university faculty, the official said.

A remote-controlled bomb blast in the southern province of Uruzgan Friday killed two policemen, one of them an officer, while they were on foot patrol, deputy provincial police chief Mohammad Gulab said.

Police in the southern province of Kandahar announced meanwhile that another policeman and a civilian driver were killed in a bomb attack on their vehicle late Thursday.

No one claimed the responsibility for the bombings. Most of the almost-daily bomb blasts in the country, however, are linked to an insurgency being waged by the extremist Taliban, who were in government from 1996 to 2001.

Heavy fighting erupted in the troubled eastern province of Khost when militants attacked a compound where foreign troops were based, police said.

The bodies of 15 militants remained at the site in the Sabari district, said the area's counterterrorism chief, named only Ghazoddin.

A policeman and a militia soldier contracted to the US military were also killed, he said.

The international forces sent attack helicopters to the battle, he said.

A Taliban spokesman confirmed the militia was involved, saying 100 men had attacked the district.

Meanwhile, police killed three Taliban militants in the neighbouring province of Paktya overnight, the provincial government said.

The growing Taliban-led insurgency threatens international efforts to stabilise the war-torn country and prompted US President Barack Obama to send 17,000 more combat troops into the battle.

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