Taliban killed, Afghan police, civilians wounded in attacks

May 6, 2008, 6:46 GMT

Kabul - US-led coalition forces killed several Taliban militants in eastern Afghanistan, while three policemen and two civilians were wounded in a roadside bomb blast in the southern region, officials said on Tuesday.

The Taliban militants were killed after they opened fire on the combined forces during a search operation in Achin district of Nangahar province on Monday, the US military said in a statement.

The operation targeted a 'Taliban militant suspected of aiding foreign fighters, and conducting IED (Improvised Explosive Device) and weapons facilitation operations,' it said.

The joint Afghan government and coalition forces also arrested a militant during the search operation, it said, but did not specify how many Taliban were killed or say if there were any casualties on the side of coalition forces.

In another incident, three police trainers and two civilians were wounded in an explosion in southern city of Kandahar on Tuesday morning, police official Ahmada Jan said.

He said that the blast was triggered by a remote-controlled bomb, which was placed in a parked bicycle on the side of the road.

Taliban militants rely heavily on roadside attacks as part of their campaign to oust the Western-backed Afghan government and to expel the international forces, deployed to the country following the fall of Taliban regime in late 2001.