Five Afghan civilians killed in roadside attacks (Roundup)

Mar 10, 2010, 14:29 GMT

Kabul - Five Afghan civilians were killed in two explosions in southern and northern Afghanistan, while two suicide bombers attacked military bases in the country's eastern region, killing Afghan and NATO forces, officials said Wednesday.

Three Afghan civilians were killed in a roadside bomb blast in Marjah district in the southern province of Helmand on Wednesday, Haji Zahir, the district governor said. Four more civilians were wounded in the attack, he said.

Marjah and the neighbouring district of Nad Ali have been the focus of the biggest military operation in the country - conducted by 15,000 Afghan and NATO soldiers - since the ouster of the Taliban regime in late 2001.

The combined forces that began the operation around the middle of last month have retaken Marjah, one of the main Taliban bastions in the region, and cleared almost all the areas in Nad Ali of the insurgents.

Afghan and NATO forces detained a Taliban commander involved in planning suicide attacks in Nad Ali district on Wednesday, the alliance said in a statement. Several of his associates were also arrested during the operation, it said.

Separately, two children were killed and two others were wounded in a roadside bomb blast in the northern province of Faryab, a separate NATO military statement said.

In the eastern province of Paktika, a suicide bomber driving an explosive-laden vehicle targeted a combined Afghan and NATO military base on Wednesday, officials said.

Daulat Zadran, the provincial police chief for Paktika, said that five people, including three Afghan army soldiers and two border police, were killed in the attack. But Ahmad Nabi, an army officer in the region, said that injuries were only sustained by five Afghan army soldiers and four police officers.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid took responsibility for Wednesday's attack, saying more than 40 Afghan and NATO soldiers were killed in the blast.

Due to the remoteness of the area, it was difficult to verify the contradictory accounts.

The attack in south-eastern province of Paktika came a day after two NATO-led soldiers were killed in a similar suicide attack in the neighboring province of Khost, the military said.

Several NATO soldiers were injured in Tuesday attack, the military said in a statement.