Wave of Insurgent Attacks Kills Nearly 20 More in Afghanistan

Wave of insurgent attacks kills nearly 20 more in Afghanistan
Tue May 23, 8:14 AM ET


Fresh insurgent attacks across Afghanistan claimed nearly 20 more lives, officials said, adding to the death toll of around 300 killed in some of the heaviest fighting since the fall of the Taliban.

Three policemen and 12 Taliban were killed when a convoy carrying a deputy provincial governor and a police chief came under attack in the south while three health workers and their driver died in a roadside bombing near the capital Kabul.

In total more than 20 insurgency-linked attacks were reported in at least 12 provinces over the past two days. Many were outside the insurgency-hit south and southeast, the traditional hotspots for Taliban-linked violence.

Villagers and human rights groups meanwhile insisted that the civilian death toll from an hours-long coalition air and ground assault in the southern province of Kandahar early Monday was higher than the 16 claimed by Afghan officials.

A teacher from the area told AFP he had seen 40 bodies and helped to bury 28. A human rights official said the toll confirmed to him by officials was 20 but he believed it could rise as more information became available.

- more at LINK