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Suicide bombing kills 15 Aghans, injures 25

At least 15 Afghans were killed and 25 wounded yesterday in an explosion in eastern Afghanistan, close to the border with Pakistan, a spokesman for NATO-led forces.

“Initial reports are that 15 local nationals were killed and another 25 were wounded in an explosion in Nangarhar Province” the spokesman for NATO’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said.

Residents in the district, south of the city of Jalalabad, said Afghan forces and civilians were among the dead, which they said could total as many as 31.

One resident, reached by phone from Kabul, said the dead included 11 members of the Afghan security forces and two children.

It was not immediately clear what caused the explosion but suicide bombers have carried out attacks in the area in the past.

Meanwhile, Afghan and foreign troops called in airstrikes as they battled militants in a series of clashes in eastern and southern Afghanistan on Monday that left at least 23 insurgents dead and 20 others wounded, officials said yesterday.

The joint forces clashed with militants in the Qarabagh district of Ghazni Province, leaving six Taliban fighters dead and eight others wounded, said Zia Wali, a spokesman for the provincial governor.

There were no casualties among the Afghan and foreign forces, Wali said.

In southwestern Nimroz Province, US-led coalition and Afghan troops killed several militants on Monday during a clash in Khash Rod district, a coalition statement said yesterday.

The troops were targeting a militant involved in the movement of weapons and fighters in the area, it said.

They detained 14 other suspected militants during the raid.

US and Afghan troops fought off insurgent attacks in eastern Afghanistan on Sunday and called in airstrikes that left a dozen militants dead and a dozen more wounded, the US military said in a statement.
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