Two bombs struck Afghan cities yesterday, killing a civilian and wounding eight more people, authorities said, in the latest attacks linked to the Taliban insurgency.
In one blast, a bomb hidden in a wheelbarrow was remotely detonated to explode near a police vehicle in Kandahar, killing one person and wounding four others, the interior ministry said in a statement.
The second blast was in the music section of a market in the eastern town of Khost, a recent target of several attacks claimed by the Taliban.
There were no claims of responsibility for yesterday’s attacks but they were similar to scores carried out by Taliban insurgents in their campaign against the government.
On Saturday, the military said troops killed 60 militants and seized then destroyed their biggest drugs haul in a four-day operation in Helmand Province that smashed an insurgent hub in the south.
Precision air strikes obliterated 92 tonnes of drugs and masses of heroin-processing chemicals and bomb-making materials collected in the sweep of Marja.
“A total of 60 militants were eliminated as they mounted an ineffective and uncoordinated defense against friendly forces,” a joint US and Afghan military statement said, issuing a final tally for the whole operation.
The statement said the troops had “seized the single largest drug cache by Afghan-led forces in Afghanistan to date.”
Helmand is the main producer of Afghan opium, which accounts for more than 90 percent of the world’s supply.
The operation had confirmed that Marja was a “hub of multiple types of militant and criminal activity,” the statement said.
“The four-day operation severely disrupted one of the key militant and criminal operations and narcotics hubs in southern Afghanistan,” US military spokesman Colonel Greg Julian said.
Afghan and international officials say the Taliban earn millions of dollars a year from the drugs trade.
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