(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) The attack targeting the mine-clearing operation struck southern Helmand province between its Nadali and Washir districts.
Taleban fighters shot dead at least 12 workers clearing mines on Saturday in southern Afghanistan authorities said part of a series of attacks that saw two US troops killed and a top Afghan court official gunned down.
Security in the capital Kabul has been stepped up as the Taleban have warned that attacks will continue as most foreign troops prepare to withdraw at the end of the month 13 years after the September 11 terror attacks sparked the US-led invasion.
The attack targeting the mine-clearing operation struck southern Helmand province between its Nadali and Washir districts police spokesman Farid Ahmad Obaid said. He said Taleban militants killed at least 12 workers and wounded another 12. Afghan soldiers later began a firefight with the insurgents he said.
Obaid identified the company working on the project as Star Link.
Afghanistan which has suffered decades of continuous war is one of the most heavily mined countries in the world. Those working on projects to clear mines often find themselves targeted by the Taleban and other insurgents in the country. In April Taleban fighters killed 12 people working on a mine-clearing project in Logar province.
Late on Friday a militant attack on a military convoy killed two US soldiers by the Bagram air base in Parwan province near Kabul an international military official said.
Nato’s International Security Assistance Force said in a statement that two service members “died as a result of an enemy forces attack in eastern Afghanistan.” Nato does not identify the nationalities of the dead relying instead on their home countries.
The deaths on Saturday were the first foreign troops killed this month bringing to 65 the total number of international troops killed in the country this year 50 of them Americans.
Early on Saturday gunmen shot dead Atiqullah Rawoofi the head of the court’s secretariat in Kabul’s northwestern suburbs said Farid Afzali chief of the Kabul police criminal investigation unit.
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