South Asia News

Five Taliban militants killed in Afghanistan

Apr 3, 2009, 8:30 GMT

   Kabul - US-lead international troops and Afghan soldiers killed five Taliban fighters in the southern province of Helmand, a US military statement said Friday.

   Four militants, among them a local Taliban commander believed to be responsible for a suicide attack and an attack on international forces, died in a raid on a compound while a fifth insurgent was killed when a group of militants attacked a coalition patrol, the statement said.

   Meanwhile, a Romanian soldier was shot and killed late Thursday, the Romanian Defence Ministry said.

   The 33-year-old officer was part of an operation of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force when he was shot 33 kilometres south-west of Kabul, the ministry said.

   The man died on the way to hospital. Romania has 957 soldiers deployed to Afghanistan.

   The US military said an Afghan child was injured by a flare in the southern province of Kandahar when troops attempted to stop a vehicle.

   Also in Helmand, a coalition convoy was hit by a roadside bomb, which damaged one ambulance, it said.