A suicide bomber dressed in a military uniform blew himself up near a military base in eastern Afghanistan on Saturday killing four Afghan soldiers and a civilian, officials said. The attacker walked up to the main gate of the Bermel barracks in Paktika province before detonating his explosives, said Ghami Khan, spokesman for the provincial governor.
"Four Afghan soldiers and an Afghan civilian were martyred and five civilians were wounded in the suicide blast," Khan said. The military compound is the base for Afghan army soldiers and Nato-led forces in the district, which is close to Pakistan.
Paktika shares a long porous border with Pakistan's restive tribal belt where the United States has said pro-Taliban militants and the al Qaeda network of Osama bin Laden are regrouping. Afghan authorities often accuse Pakistan of turning a blind eye to militants crossing into Afghanistan, to take part in an increasingly deadly insurgency. Islamabad strongly denies the allegations.
In two separate incidents, five Afghan policemen were killed in the latest violence to hit the insurgency-hit nation, officials said. Three died when they tried to chase down militants who had kidnapped the father of a policeman in troubled southern Helmand province.
"In the clash three police were martyred. The Taliban managed to escape taking the hostage with them," provincial police chief Mohammad Hussain Andiwal told AFP. And in Ghazni province, south of Kabul, Taliban militants ambushed and killed another two police patrolling on motor bikes, provincial police chief Alishah Ahmadzai said.
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