Afghan security forces clashed with Taliban militants in southern Afghanistan, leaving nine militants dead, while a subsequent roadside blast targeting a police vehicle killed five officers, an official said yesterday. Afghan police and army soldiers battled militants Sunday in Kandahar province's Shohrawak district, said provincial police chief Sayed Agha Saqib.The joint Afghan forces thwarted a planned militant ambush at the district chief's compound, and the ensuing clash left nine militants dead, Saqib said. Authorities recovered the militants' bodies and weapons, he said. During a cleanup operation after the battle, a roadside bomb hit a police vehicle in the same district, killing five officers and wounding two others, Saqib said.
Violence in Afghanistan has risen sharply during the last two months. More than 3,700 people, mostly militants, have been killed in insurgency-related violence this year, according to an Associated Press tally of casualty figures provided by Western and Afghan officials. Most of the violence has occurred in former Taliban strongholds in the south.
In the northeastern province of Badakhshan, police arrested a man with a suicide vest on Monday who said he was from Kazakhstan, said Shamsul Rahman, the deputy governor. The man said other suicide bombers were in Badakhshan, Rahman said, prompting police to launch a search operation.