Afghanistan violence: Taliban kill 12 landmine clearers

Taliban fighters have launched several attacks on Kabul in recent weeks, raising questions about security

Taliban gunmen have shot dead 12 people working to clear landmines in southern Helmand province, Afghan police say.

In the capital, Kabul, a suicide bomber attacked a bus carrying Afghan soldiers, and the Taliban said it killed a senior Supreme Court official.

And Nato said two of its soldiers died when insurgents attacked close to the main international base north of Kabul.

The incidents come amid an upsurge of Taliban violence as the US and Nato mission in Afghanistan nears its end.

Taliban fighters attacked the landmine-clearing operation early on Saturday, shooting 12 workers dead and injuring another 12, police spokesman Farid Ahmad Obaid told reporters.

He said Afghan soldiers later took on the militants in a gun battle, killing four and capturing three.

Afghanistan is one of the most heavily mined countries in the world and clearing projects have been targeted by Taliban militants in the past. In April, Taliban gunmen killed 12 landmine clearers in Logar province.
Militants targeted a Nato convoy close to the Bagram air base on Friday night, killing two soldiers

Bus destroyed

Saturday's attack on the mine-clearers was the most deadly in a series of militant attacks against Afghan and Nato targets over the past few days.

Reports from Kabul said a suicide bomber destroyed a bus carrying Afghan troops shortly after the mine-clearers were killed.

An Afghan news agency tweeted a picture showing a plume of smoke rising from a burning vehicle in the middle of a busy Kabul street.

There were reports of casualties, but no details were immediately available.

Earlier on Saturday, police in Kabul said Atiqullah Rawoofi, the head of the Supreme Court's secretariat, was shot dead by two men on a motorbike as he walked from his home to his car.

Source: BBCnews