12 Taleban killed in clash; bomb wounds 6

05 Jul, 2006

A bomb in the Afghan capital Kabul wounded more than six people on Tuesday and 12 Taleban insurgents were killed in a clash in the south where Naro forces are set to take control. Afghanistan is going through its worst phase of violence since the Taleban were ousted in 2001.
In another incident, five Afghan labourers working at a US military base in the east were stopped on their way home and executed by the road, police said.
Most of the violence has been in the south and east. Attacks in Kabul are rare.
Interior Ministry spokesman Yousuf Stanizai blamed "enemies of the Afghan people" for the lunchtime blast in the crowded city centre. The bomb was in a vendor's push cart.
"A cart packed with explosives blew up on a corner by the Justice Ministry," he said. The blast shattered windows of the ministry and other buildings, and damaged cars.
Six people were admitted to hospital, five in serious condition, said Ministry of Health official Abdullah Fahim. Several people had superficial wounds, he said.
No one claimed responsibility for the explosion. Earlier on Tuesday, a roadside bomb hit a bus carrying police in Kabul, slightly wounding one, the Interior Ministry said.
Police battled insurgents in the troubled Girish district of Helmand province in the south, killing 12 of them in a sweep that began on Monday, an Interior Ministry official said. In Kunar province in the east, five labourers from a US base were stopped as they drove home on Monday and gunned down. One man survived.

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