Four Nato troops killed in Afghanistan
Four Nato troops died in separate attacks across Afghanistan today, including a suicide car bomber who targeted a military convoy in the Taliban-dominated south.
No details or nationalities of the victims were released.
Nine Afghan civilians also died in four bombings in the south.
The deaths came as troops worked to consolidate control over the former insurgent stronghold of Marjah in the southern province of Helmand, where allied forces are waging the largest combined offensive of the eight-year-war.
The suicide attacker waited in a taxi for the Nato convoy to cross a bridge between Kandahar city and the airport, then detonated his explosives, tossing a military vehicle into a ravine.
A Nato service member and four Afghan civilians died in the attack.
In western Afghanistan two other Nato troops died in a mortar attack, while another was killed by small arms fire in the south.
Another car bomb today outside Kandahar city’s police headquarters killed a civilian employee and wounded nine police officers and six civilians.
Kandahar city is the capital of the province of the same name that is considered the spiritual birthplace of the Taliban. It lies east of Helmand province, where thousands of troops are conducting an offensive to wrest control of the town of Marjah from insurgents.
Marjah has long been controlled by the Taliban, and the assault is seen as the first step in a multi-month offensive that will eventually target insurgent strongholds around Kandahar city.
The two-week-old Marjah offensive is the largest combined assault since the 2001 invasion to oust the Taliban.
It is the first test of Nato’s new counter-insurgency strategy since President Barack Obama ordered 30,000 new US troops to Afghanistan late last year.
The allied forces have cleared most of Marjah and are now working to secure the area, though Nato has warned there could be pockets of violence for weeks.
Hundreds of Afghan police and civil servants are being brought in with the goal of establishing public services to win the support of the population.
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