NATO soldiers, Afghan policemen killed in blasts

KABUL - Two NATO soldiers, six Afghan policemen and two civilians were killed in separate roadside bomb blasts in Afghanistan Saturday, officials said.

The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) confirmed the deaths of its soldiers in southern Afghanistan, but did not reveal their nationalities or any further details. Most of the forces stationed in the restive southern region are from the US, Britain, Canada and the Netherlands.

Nearly 420 foreign troops have been killed in the Afghan war so far this year.

Separately, a bomb hidden in a wheel-barrow was remotely detonated in the Nahr Saraj district of Helmand province Saturday morning, killing four policemen and one civilian, the interior ministry said in a statement.

At least a dozen civilians and one police officer were also injured in the attack that had targeted a police convoy, the statement said.

A child was killed and another was injured in the Maiwand district of the neighboring province of Kandahar Saturday, when a roadside bomb exploded, a statement issued by Kandahar’s provincial government said.

Five Taliban militants were also killed in Kandahar’s Arghandab district Friday when the bomb they were trying to plant on a road exploded prematurely, the statement said.

Two policemen were killed and five others were injured in a roadside bomb blast in the Khan Abad district of the northern province of Kunduz Saturday, Mohammad Omar, the provincial governor said.

Taliban militants rely heavily on the use of roadside bombs as part of their campaign against the Afghan government and the more than 140,000 US and NATO troops currently stationed in Afghanistan.

A NATO airstrike, meanwhile, killed 14 insurgents Saturday after Afghan and NATO forces came under attack by Taliban fighters in Helmand province, the alliance military said in a statement.

The forces were investigating a large cache of weapons, when the attack began, it said, adding that the combined forces discovered “recoilless rifles, 82mm mortar rounds, and anti personnel mine, complete improvised explosive devices (IED), along with IED-making material, communications radios and repeaters.”