LOC14:38
11:38 GMT
Nine people die in fresh Afghan violence
KABUL, April 15 (KUNA) -- A suicide attack by Taliban and an air strike by
the US-led coalition troops killed at least nine people, including Taliban and
Afghan police, in southern Afghanistan on Sunday.
The suicide attack was carried out in the southern province of Kandahar
around 11 a.m. (local time).
The bomber struck his explosive-packed car with a vehicle of a US security
company on the road linking Kandahar city with the border district of Spin
Boldak.
Witnesses said three policemen were killed in the attack, but Kandahar
police chief Asmatullah Alizai told KUNA over the telephone that the dead were
civilians. Two more people sustained injuries, added the police chief.
Separately, the US-led coalition forces said they had eliminated six
Taliban fighters in an air raid, after the militants attacked them with
rocket-propelled grenades.
A statement by the coalition forces' main Bagram base said the coalition
and Afghan forces were on patrol in Sangin district of Helmand province, when
the militants attacked them.
The joint forces returned small arms and mortar fire and called close air
support. The coalition's aircraft targeted the Taliban positions killing six
of them, said the statement.
Civilians living in the nearby areas, as well as the Afghan and coalition
forces stayed unhurt in the fighting, added the military statement. (end)
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KUNA 151438 Apr 07NNNN