A suicide attack on a military convoy killed a soldier and six Afghans in southern Afghanistan yesterday, a day after a major operation to drive Taliban rebels from a key stronghold.
The convoy was driving through a crowded bazaar in the troubled province of Helmand when it was hit by small-arms fire, followed by an insurgent detonating explosives strapped to his body, officials said.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but the Taliban had vowed to launch suicide attacks to avenge this week’s offensive by NATO and Afghan troops in Kandahar Province.
Helmand police chief Mohammad Hussain Andiwal said five Afghan civilians were killed, including two children, and four were injured. He had earlier given a toll of 10 civilians, but said later that he had been “misinformed.”
Additionally, the US-led coalition said in a statement that “a coalition service member and a local national were killed this morning in Helmand Province when their convoy was struck by a suicide bomber and small-arms fire.”
The Afghan national was an interpreter, said the coalition, which did not mention civilian casualties.
The police chief blamed the attack on “enemies of Afghanistan” — a term frequently used by Afghan officials to refer to the Taliban and their al-Qaeda allies.
Meanwhile, the US-led coalition, which operates alongside NATO, said a soldier was killed instantly and another died later from gunshot wounds during operations against insurgents in Helmand late on Thursday.
Separately, in the western province of Farah, Afghan police forces and NATO launched an operation in Bala Buluk district overnight, which left eight Taliban and one policeman dead, provincial police chief Khalilullah Rehmani said.
Police also arrested 20 suspects on suspicion of aiding the rebels, he said.
Separately, a French businessman who was abducted in southern Afghanistan last month has been released safely with two Afghan colleagues, the French Foreign Ministry said yesterday.
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