By IANS,
Kabul : Two suicide attacks killed an Afghan child and wounded more than 20 others, while the US-led coalition troops killed more than a dozen Taliban insurgents in the southern region, officials said Wednesday.
A suicide attacker attacked a convoy of NATO forces in Spin Boldak district in southern Kandahar province Wednesday morning, killing himself and a child and wounding four others, said Abdul Razaq, the border police commander in the region.
The attack that took place close to Pakistani border damaged a NATO vehicle but did not cause any casualties among the soldiers.
However, a police official in the area, who did not want to be named, said that the attack wounded three foreign soldiers.
Another suicide attacker attacked a border town in the south-eastern province of Khost Wednesday, killing himself and wounding 23 others including 19 civilians, the interior ministry said in a statement.
Taliban militants rely heavily on the use of suicide and roadside attacks as part of their campaign to topple the Western-backed Afghan government and to expel the international forces stationed in the country.
The militants carried out more than 160 suicide attacks last year, the record period since the ouster of Taliban regime in late 2001.
In another incident, a vehicle carrying humanitarian assistance in a coalition convoy struck a roadside bomb while approaching Putay town in Helmand province and then was ambushed by insurgents using small-arms fire.
“During the fighting, another coalition vehicle struck a mine,” said the military in a statement.
Coalition air support was called in after the rebels were seen entering homes. There have been no reports of civilian casualties.
Meanwhile, provincial police chief of Helmand, Hussain Andewal said that Afghan and NATO forces completely retook Garmsir district of the province, which was held by Taliban until early last month.
Andewal also claimed that their forces backed by NATO ground forces and air support killed more than 100 insurgents in the past three days in different districts of the province. His claims could not be independently verified.
The Taliban, who lost power after the US military invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, have recently rallied and waged a bloody war against the Afghan government and its military allies.
The militancy so far this year has claimed the lives of more than 1,500 people, mostly insurgents and civilians.