Three NATO soldiers among 13 die in fresh Afghan violence

KABUL, October 14: Four foreign soldiers and at least nine Afghan civilians were killed in three separate roadside bomb blasts while a senior provincial official was shot dead by armed assailants in Afghanistan on Tuesday.

Three of the four incidents happened in the volatile south while the fourth incident was reported from the eastern zone of the war-battered country.

The first blast took place at a vehicle of the US-led coalition troops in southern parts of the country. One soldier was killed and "several others" wounded, said a statement released from the US-forces' Bagram base, and located some 35 kilometers north of Kabul.

As usual, the statement did not disclose exact location of the roadside bomb blast. Afghanistan's southern zone is consisting of four provinces - Kandahar, Helmand, Zabul and Uruzgan. All the four provinces are considered hot beds of insurgency and strong bases of the anti-government Taliban.

Three soldiers of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) were killed in a similar incident in eastern Afghanistan, the NATO press office in Kabul said on Tuesday.

The soldiers were on patrol when their vehicle hit an improvised explosive device (IED), said NATO spokesperson Brigadier General Richard Blanchette. He did not disclose names and nationalities of the slain soldiers. Also exact location of the incident was not made public.

The eastern zone of Afghanistan is composed of the four provinces of Nangarhar, Laghman, Kunar and Nuristan. Among the four, Kunar is considered as the most dangerous area from security point of view where the militants stage frequent attacks on foreign troops.

In one such attack about two months back, the militants blasted a security post killing nine foreign soldiers. This was the first incident of its type since 2001 in which militants launched a direct attack on the foreign troops and killed so many soldiers in a single haul.

In a third incident, a civilian vehicle hit a roadside bomb that resulted in the killing of nine civilians in Uruzgan province. Uruzgan is located in the restive southern zone of Afghanistan.

Provincial police chief Juma Gul Himmat told journalists that all those killed in the bomb blast were civilians. He claimed the bomb was planted by Taliban to target Afghan and foreign troops. However, the militants, who usually claim responsibility for attacks on troops and government installations, did not issue any comment so far.

In yet another incident, two armed motorcyclists attacked and killed director of the Department of Martyrs and Disabled in the province of Kandahar, the former stronghold and spiritual capital of the ousted Taliban militia.

In a recently-held news conference in Kabul, Afghan Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak admitted surge in violence. He told reporters that 2008 had proved the bloodiest year for the Afghan civilians, Afghan military and police as well as the foreign troops.

Looking at the rising graph of violence and resurging Taliban, analysts in the Afghan capital Kabul and other big cities believe war can not and would not solve the Afghan imbroglio.

In recent weeks, reports emerged both from political and military sides, including leaders of the NATO member countries and the military leadership, that "decisive victory" was not possible in Afghanistan.

Such reports emerged at a time when the Afghan President disclosed to reporters in Kabul on Eid day that he had requested the Saudi King Abdullah for mediation between his government and the warring Taliban.

The Afghan president said this following reports that Taliban representatives, including their former foreign minister Wakil Ahmad Mutawakil and their ambassador to Pakistan Abdul Salam Zaeef, held a meeting with Afghan officials. Reports suggested that the meeting was hosted by Saudi King Abdullah.

Saudi Arabia was among the three countries who recognized the Taliban regime after the militia captured the Afghan capital Kabul in 1996. The other two countries were the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Pakistan.