US-led troops killed at least four people, including a teenage girl, in a raid in southeastern Afghanistan on Tuesday and a suicide bomber killed eight more in the south, residents, officials and coalition forces said. | The target of the suicide bomber was the governor of Helmand, Mohammad Daud, who escaped unhurt. |
The attack is the latest in the bloodiest year to have gripped Afghanistan since US-led forces overthrew the Taliban government in 2001. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, but Taliban militants have carried out many such raids across the country this year.
Hours before the blast, US-led forces killed at least four people in the southeastern province of Khost where the Taliban and their Islamic allies are highly active. But there were conflicting accounts about who was killed in the pre-dawn raid in Dornami village. Residents say the US-led force, backed by Afghan militias, broke into a house, drawing fire from the occupants who thought they were thieves. Four people were killed and some seven wounded – all of them civilians, they said.
The US-led coalition said in a statement the raid killed five people – four suspected terrorists and a young girl. The troops requested the surrender of those in the compound. “The suspected terrorists refused to comply with verbal warnings and began firing,” the statement said. “Enemies of the Afghan government continue to place women and children in harm’s way by conducting illegal activities within common living areas, placing entire families at risk,” the statement said.