KABUL: Militants attacked a checkpoint in western Afghanistan, killing five Afghan soldiers, an official said on Wednesday, while an apparent car-bomb exploded in an eastern city, killing the driver.  The car exploded at about 8:30 am in Jalalabad, 130 kilometres east of Kabul, intelligence chief Bahram Khan told The Associated Press. Khan said investigators suspected the driver was planning a suicide attack, but that the bomb detonated prematurely. No one else was injured. "Only the driver, the suicide attacker, was killed," Khan said. He identified the dead man as an Afghan from neighboring Laghman province called Mansour. Police said he had no criminal record.
| That's surprising. Usually they're Paks... |
The five Afghan soldiers died when militants assailed a checkpoint in Gulistan district of Farah province, 650 kilometres southwest of Kabul, deputy police chief Mohammed Rasoul said. Rasoul said other soldiers pursued the attackers, who were riding motorbikes, and arrested them. |