Senior Afghan official, three others killed in attacks (Roundup)

Nov 28, 2010, 12:51 GMT

Eds: Adds NATO confirms capture of insurgent leaders

Kabul (dpa) - A senior member of a provincial council and three others were killed in separate attacks in eastern and northern Afghanistan on Sunday, officials said.

Abdulah Ahmadzai, senior secretary for the provincial council of the eastern province of Logar, was killed in an ambush along with two others, a spokesman for the provincial governor said.

'Ahmadzai's brother and cousin were also among the dead. They were on the way to the office when they came under attack,' he said, blaming the 'enemies of Afghanistan' for the incident, a term often used by officials to describe Taliban militants.

A Taliban spokesman took responsibility for the attack.

Afghan government officials and tribal elders have long been targeted by Taliban-led insurgents throughout the country.

Meanwhile, an explosive-laden bicycle was remotely blown up in a busy market in Taleqan, the provincial capital of the northern province of Takhar on Sunday, killing one civilian and injuring the other, a spokesman for the provincial governor said.

Separately, a suicide bomber on Sunday became the sole victim in an incident in the western province of Ghor when his bomb went off, a provincial official said.

The attacks came a day after two suicide bombers stormed police headquarters in the south-eastern province of Paktika, leaving 13 policemen dead.

Violence last week in the war-torn country left 33 civilians dead and 79 injured, the interior ministry said on Sunday.

Meanwhile, NATO said in a statement that it had arrested a senior leader of the Haqqani network, an insurgent group allied with the Taliban, during an operation in the south-eastern province of Khost on November 25.

He was one of at least 20 senior Haqqani leaders captured or killed this month and was responsible for 'remote-controlled improvised explosive device attacks against coalition force bases and convoys,' according to the statement.

The leader was arrested along with two of his associates by the International Security Assistance Force south-west of Guldar in Sabari district, the statement said.

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