KABUL: A roadside bomb killed four police in western Afghanistan and two soldiers died in separate militant attacks, the latest against the country’s struggling security forces, officials said Wednesday.
The attacks follow deadly Taleban ambushes on checkpoints in the north and south of the country on Monday that killed 16 national police — underscoring the threat faced by Afghan forces seen as pivotal to plans for an eventual withdrawal of international troops from Afghanistan.
The roadside bomb hit a car carrying the police Tuesday night in Rubat-i-Sangin district, north of the city of Herat, according to the Afghan Interior Ministry. Noor Khan Nekzad, a spokesman for the provincial police chief, said the patrol vehicle was destroyed by the blast.
Also Tuesday, two Afghan army soldiers were killed in militant attacks in eastern Laghman province and southern Kandahar province, the Defense Ministry said. According to the ministry, militants have carried out 3,170 bombings or suicide attacks so far this year. Another 3,617 bombs were been defused before they were detonated.
President Barack Obama has ordered some 30,000 US reinforcements to try to reverse the tide against the Taleban, but has said troops could begin withdrawing from the country within 18 months if conditions are right.
NATO, meanwhile, reported success by Afghan and international forces in detaining Wednesday two Taleban commanders and another suspected militant near a village in the central province of Wardak.
In Kandahar, a joint force searched a compound in the Zhari district and detained militants and a Taleban commander believed responsible for a number of roadside bomb attacks in the area. More militants were detained in Arghandab district.
No shots were fired and no one was injured in the operations, NATO said.
