March 13th:

A roadside bomb exploded in central Afghanistan on Saturday, killing six civilians, the Afghan Interior Ministry said.


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The bomb went off in Tirin Kot, the provincial capital of the volatile southern Uruzgan province on Saturday, killing six people travelling in a civilian vehicle, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.

IED Planters Killed:

Two militants were also killed on Saturday when the IED they were trying to plant on a roadside in the Muqur district of western Badghis province went off, provincial police chief Sayed Ahmad Sameh told AFP.


KABUL, March 13 (Xinhua) -- Eleven Taliban militants were killed as NATO-led aircraft pounded their hideouts in Zabul province south of Afghanistan, spokesman for provincial administration Mohammad Jan Rasoul said Saturday.

"International troops dropped bombs on Taliban bastion in Shamonzai district Friday night killing 11 rebels," Rasoul told Xinhua.

There were no casualties on civilians during the air raid, he asserted.

Meantime, a Taliban purported spokesman Qari Yusuf Ahmadi disputed the claim, saying all the victims were civilians.

However, Mohammad Jawad Wazir, governor of Shamozai district, rejected Taliban claim as mere propaganda, saying all those killed in the air strike were Taliban fighters.

KABUL, March 13 (Xinhua) -- Gun battle between security forces and Taliban fighters left four insurgents dead in Afghanistan's northern Faryab province, a private television channel broadcast Saturday.

"Four anti-government militants were killed in Pashtunkot district of Faryab province last night," Tolo television reported in its news bulletin.

Quoting police sources the television added that there were no casualties on the troops.

Taliban Executes Civilian:

The television channel also said that Taliban militants killed a man on charges of serving government in the Gilan of southern Ghanzi province Friday night but police said the ill-fated man had not worked for the administration.

March 11th:

Top North Waziristan Taliban leader Bahadar rumored killed in US strike


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Unconfirmed reports from Pakistan indicate that the top Taliban commander in North Waziristan may have been among those killed in yesterday's swarm attack by unmanned US aircraft in the lawless tribal agency.

US intelligence officials contacted by The Long War Journal said that Hafiz Gul Bahadar, the powerful Taliban chieftain in North Waziristan, was the target of yesterday's airstrike in the Datta Khel region.

Bahadar is rumored to be among those killed in the strike, according to reports in The New York Times and ANI, but his death has not been confirmed. US intelligence officials are "investigating the possibility that he was killed" but could not confirm the reports.

Twin blasts kill five civilians in Taliban hub S Afghanistan

LASHKAR GAH, Afghanistan, March 11 (Xinhua) -- Two separate roadside bombings in Taliban hotbed Helmand province in south Afghanistan left five civilians dead on Thursday, officials said.


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"In the first incident, which took place in Taliban former bastion Marja district, three civilians were killed and two others sustained injuries as their car ran over a mine this morning," a senior police officer Ghulam Sakhi told Xinhua.

Hours later in a similar incident, a blast hit a car outside Helmand's provincial capital Lashkar Gah and claimed the lives of two civilians, provincial police chief Assadullah Shirzad said.


March 9th:

Air strike kills 15 insurgents in Taliban birthplace

Air raids against militants' hideouts in Taliban birthplace Kandahar province in south Afghanistan left more than a dozen insurgents dead, said a statement of provincial administration released here Tuesday.

The statement said that acting upon intelligence report, the NATO-led aircrafts raided a hideout of Taliban outfit in Mianshin district on Sunday killing 15 insurgents.

It also asserted that there were no casualties on civilians.

March 8th:

Roadside Bombs Kill 11 Afghan Civilians

A roadside bomb struck a car in a northwestern Afghan province, killing at least 10 civilians, the govt said on Monday.

Another civilian died in a separate bomb blast in the same region, the Afghan Interior Ministry said in a statement.

The first bomb went off as civilians drove over the device in the Muqur district of Badghis province on Sunday, the statement noted.

"The mine was planted by the enemies of Afghanistan on a public road," the statement said, without identifying a specific group.

No group, including the Taliban, has claimed responsibility for the attack in the remote Afghan province.

Taliban militants make wide use of improvised explosive devices, which are planted on roadsides and used to target foreign and Afghan forces.


Taliban, HIG infighting leads to split in Afghan insurgency in the North

More than 120 fighters from the anti-government Gulbuddin faction of Hezb-i-Islami have surrendered to local authorities in Baghlan after a weekend of fighting with the Taliban that left 60 insurgents and 20 civilians dead.

"Since Sunday 120 fighters including 70 armed men from Hizb-e-Islami have joined [the] government," a police spokesman in Baghlan told Xinhua. Mamor Malang, a local commander of the Hezb-i-Islami Gulbuddin, or HIG, was among those who surrendered to the government. More HIG fighters are expected to join the government in the coming days.

March 7th:


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KABUL, March 7 (Xinhua) -- Afghan and NATO-led troops killed seven Taliban militants during a joint operation in Deh Chopan district of southern Helmand province, a local official said Sunday. "Seven Taliban rebels including a local commander were killed in the cleanup operation in Deh Chopan on Saturday," the official who declined to be identified told Xinhua.