By Zhang Yunlong, Abdul Haleem, Xinhua,
Kabul : Two fresh bombings on Saturday left one civilian dead and anther three wounded in Afghanistan’s southern Kandahar and eastern Khost provinces while Afghan and the U.S.-led Coalition forces have killed several militants in the east, officials said.
A roadside bomb planted by militants to target a foreign military convoy exploded in Sabari district of Khost at 8 a.m. local time Saturday, injuring two school children, Wazir Badshah, the provincial police spokesman, told Xinhua.
Just one hour later, a bicycle bomb shocked the south province Kandahar.
An explosive-attached bicycle parked along a road in the western edge of Kandahar city, the provincial capital, exploded, leaving one passerby dead and another injured, a police officer on the spot Faiz Mohammad said. He did not say who was targeted in the blast.
There has been no immediate responsibility claim but Taliban-led rebels are usually blamed for such guerrilla-style attacks.
The bombings came as Afghan and Afghan-based foreign troops are conducting several major offensives to disrupt militants’ network in the east and south.
The U.S.-led Coalition in a joint operation conducted with Afghan troops in Sabari district of Khost killed “several” insurgents and arrested four others on Friday, according to a Coalition statement issued here Saturday.
In another statement, the U.S.-led military said that during an anti-insurgent operation joined by Afghan troops in Achin district of eastern Nangarhar province Friday, it captured eight insurgents.
Moreover, Afghan forces in their efforts to check militancy on Friday launched an operation in Afghanistan’s western Farah province, the Afghan Defense Ministry said in a statement on Saturday.
Six years on from Taliban regime collapse in 2001, Afghanistan has been the scene of spiraling violence and insurgency-related fighting and blasts left 8,000 dead in 2007, a record high since 2001 in the country.
A resurgent Taliban, said to have control over several southern districts and bases in the south, east and west, continues to deepen its insurgency against the Afghan government through roadside bombings, suicide blasts and ambushes.