Attacks and clashes across troubled Afghanistan have left more than two dozen people dead, including a cook and his 12-year-old son allegedly shot dead by Taliban, authorities said Monday. The man, a cook for a district government in the central province of Ghazni, and his child were shot several times late Sunday after Taliban militants had accused them of spying for the government, an Afghan official said. The killing was in Andar district, said the area's chief, Abdel-Rahim Daisiwal. The area has seen several deadly attacks by militants linked to the Taliban, who were in government between 1996 and 2001.
The Afghan Defense Ministry said separately its soldiers had killed three militants elsewhere in Ghazni.
Meanwhile, in Zabul Province, 11 Taliban insurgents were killed in an Afghan and international military operation overnight, Daychopan district chief Fazil Bary said.
Three more Taliban and six Afghan guards were killed in fighting in Wardak Province, adjoining Kabul, after the rebels had attacked a convoy supplying logistics to international troops Sunday, a government official said. The Taliban confirmed its men were involved in the fight but claimed it had lost no men and instead killed 11 policemen, a claim that could not be verified.
There were also clashes Sunday in Logar Province, also next to Kabul, and Helmand in the south that had killed a number of "terrorists," the Afghan Defense Ministry said, without providing a figure.