Five cops killed in Kabul blasts

Five policemen were killed and the top criminal department police chief was wounded in explosions on the western outskirts of the capital Kabul, the interior ministry spokesman said Wednesday. Ali Shah Paktiawal, head of the criminal department of the Kabul city police, was wounded in a blast in the Company area, some 10 kilometres from the city centre.
When he was inspecting the scene of an overnight attack against a police post, Interior Ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary said. Three policemen were killed in the roadside blast on Tuesday night in the same Company area when their vehicle was blown up by a mine close to their post, Bashary said. "Paktiawal was slightly wounded, but two of his bodyguards were killed," Bashary said. Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid, speaking by phone from an undisclosed location, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa that Paktiawal was the target of the attack.