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| Afghanistan |
| Seventeen killed in Afghan violence |
| 2007-07-16 |
| Seventeen people, including eight security guards died when their vehicle hit a roadside bomb in eastern Afghanistan, while rockets fired from Pakistan killed two civilians, an Afghan official said on Sunday. The Ministry of Defence, meanwhile, said 30 fighters aligned with Hezb-i Islami, a faction led by former Afghan Prime Minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, had laid down their weapons and agreed to cooperate with the government. The fighters come from the Tagab Valley of Kapisa province. In Paktia province, eight security guards working for a road construction company died when a roadside bomb blew up their vehicle, said provincial Governor Akram Akhpelwak. A rocket fired from Pakistan into the Bermel region destroyed a house and killed two civilians, he added. Provincial police chief Ghulam Dastgir told AFP that unknown assailants also opened fired on the chief of Showak district late Saturday, gunning down two of his bodyguards. In Paktika province, five construction workers were killed when a bomb exploded underneath their vehicle, local police chief Sardar Mohammad Zazi said, adding that the device was activated by remote control and was probably planted by fighters with links to the Taliban. Two others were wounded in the attack, he said. In the southern province of Helmand, three Taliban fighters were killed and five Afghan soldiers wounded during a battle in Gereshk district, the Ministry of Defence said. And a suspected suicide bomber died late Saturday in eastern Khost province when the explosives he was carrying apparently blew up prematurely, a local spokesman said. |
| Posted by:Fred |