Kabul

Suicide attack in western Afghanistan kills six

Afghanistan, NATOKabul- Six people including a senior police officer were killed in a suicide attack in a busy provincial market in western Afghanistan on Friday, the governor of the province said.

The bomber detonated his explosive-filled vest in a busy market in Zaranj, the provincial capital of the western province of Nimruz, when the deputy commander of the highway police forces was shopping, provincial Governor Gholam Dastigir Azaad.

Karzai condemns killing of 17 Afghan civilians in US-led operation

Hamid KarzaiKabul - Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Thursday condemned the reported killing of 17 civilians, including women and children, in a US-led coalition operation in eastern Afghanistan, the presidential palace said in a statement.

The US military said on Wednesday that their forces killed 32 Taliban insurgents, including an armed female militant, in an operation that targeted a roadside bomb-making network in Alishing district of Laghman province in eastern Afghanistan.

Canadian soldier, Afghan policemen, insurgents killed in attacks

Kabul - A Canadian soldier with NATO-led forces was killed and three others were wounded in a roadside bomb blast in southern Afghanistan, while two policemen and three suspected Taliban militants were killed elsewhere in the country, officials said Thursday.

The Canadian soldiers were travelling in a military vehicle on Wednesday when it was struck by a roadside bomb in Shah Walikot district of southern Kandahar province, the Canadian Defence Ministry said in a statement.

The statement said the three wounded soldiers were evacuated to a hospital at Kandahar airfield, where some 2,500 Canadian soldiers are stationed, and were reported to be in good condition.

Mumbai attack: India''s claim that Pak agencies involved disappointing: Qureshi

Shah Mehmood QureshiKabul, Jan. 7 : Pakistan''s Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Wednesday described as ‘disappointing’ India’s claims that official agencies in Islamabad were involved in the Mumbai attacks.

Qureshi, who has accompanied President Asif Ali Zardari on an official visit to Afghanistan, said such claims would not help build cooperation between the two countries.

NATO soldier, police officers killed in southern Afghanistan

NATO LogoKabul - A soldier under NATO command and three Afghan policemen were killed in two different incidents in southern Afghanistan, while unknown gunmen killed an Islamic cleric in the same region, officials said Tuesday.

The soldier, who was part of NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), was killed in a "hostile incident" in the southern region on Tuesday, ISAF said in a statement.

The statement did not reveal the identity or nationality of the deceased soldier, nor did it say how the incident occurred. Most of the 50,000-strong ISAF troops in the south are soldiers from the US, Canada and Britain.

Afghan army to grow to more than 100,000 by end of 2009

Afghan army to grow to more than 100,000 by end of 2009Kabul - The fledgling Afghan national army was to grow to more than 100,000 troops by the end of this year, a spokesman said Monday.

The troops are to be trained by US-led international forces, as NATO commanders in Afghanistan demand additional soldiers to effectively combat the resurgent Taliban militants.

So far a total of 85,000 army soldiers, drawn from Afghanistan's various ethnic groups, have been trained by military officers from the US, France and Britain since the start of the program in 2002.

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