Afghanistan attacks kill mayor, 30 militants

THE mayor of an Afghan city was killed in a bomb attack and 30 Taliban-linked militants died in a police operation, among separate incidents of violence reported in Afghanistan yesterday.

The new bloodshed came as world leaders gathered in The Hague to focus on ways to help Afghanistan tackle a growing extremist insurgency and build stability.

Sakhi Amirullah Amiri, the mayor of Afghanistan's eastern city of Khost, was killed as he was travelling home from work, police said.

"The mayor has been killed. Two of his nephews and two civilians were wounded in the blast," said Khost province police chief Abdul Qayom Baqizoi.

The official's body was badly damaged and one of his nephews was in critical condition, provincial public health director Amir Badshah said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

Khost, which is on the border with Pakistan, has been hit by a series of militant attacks recently. The Taliban, in government from 1996 until the 2001 US-led invasion, are leading an insurgency supported by militants across the border in nuclear-armed Pakistan.

The Afghan interior ministry said police had killed 30 rebels in an operation Monday in Uruzgan province that continued Tuesday in neighbouring Helmand province, another hotbed of Taliban activity.

"During this operation 30 enemies of peace and stability were killed and 17 were injured," it said. Several rifles, machine guns and some ammunition were also seized during the fighting, one of the biggest raids against the militants in recent weeks.

AFP