Afghan insurgency claims 40 lives in 2 days

Insurgency and counterinsurgency have left 40 people dead with majority of them insurgents since Friday, according to officials in the militancy-plagued Afghanistan.

The militants in the latest waves of violent attacks targeted NATO-led forces killing one soldier on Saturday, the military alliance confirmed in a statement released here.

"An International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) service member died following an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) attack in southern Afghanistan today," the press release added.

This is the third NATO service member, killed in Taliban-led insurgency in Afghanistan since Friday.

Two more NATO soldiers, according to a statement of the alliance released Saturday morning, were killed in the eastern region of Afghanistan where the Taliban insurgents are active.

Furthermore, the Taliban-linked insurgents in attempt to distabilize security, had organized a suicide attack in the relatively peaceful Balkh province in northern Afghanistan on Friday killing one person and wounding 29 others, all civilians, officials emphasized.

"One child was killed and 29 other civilians were wounded, when a suicide bomber blew himself up in front of a convoy of NATO troops in Balkh district of the same name Balkh province on Friday, " Mohammad Daud, the regional police commander in northern Afghanistan, told Xinhua.

NATO troops suffered no casualties, he stressed.

Earlier, Lal Muhammad Ahmadzai, police spokesman in the northern region, said that all the victims were innocent con- combatants.

Nevertheless, the security forces in counterinsurgency operation pounded Taliban hideouts in Alisheng district of the eastern Laghman province on Friday killing more than 30 insurgents, a statement released by ISAF stated.

The Taliban insurgents, according to officials, kidnapped four policemen in Muqar district of the southern Ghazni province on Friday, while a roadside bomb left two civilians dead in Logar province on the same day Friday, according to media reports.

Meantime, gun battle between security forces and militants in Chak district, Wardak province 40 km west of capital Kabul have left four Taliban insurgents dead.

The cleanup operation launched Friday in Chak district have left four Taliban insurgents dead including their commander Mullah Abdullah and the operation would continue till ensuring lasting peace there, governor of Chak district Mohammad Islael Wafa said.

Source: Xinhua