Kabul: Roadside bombs and insurgent attacks killed 16 Afghan civilians, five policemen and two members of the US-led coalition in southern Afghanistan where militants are trying to reclaim territory, Afghan and NATO authorities said on Sunday.
The civilians, including women and children, were killed in a trio of blasts in Arghistan district, along Afghanistan’s border with Pakistan.
Kandahar province spokesman Ahmad Jawed Faisal said one bomb exploded when a minivan ran over it on Sunday morning.
A second went off when other civilians riding a tractor arrived to help the wounded.
A third explosion occurred about two hours later when a civilian vehicle hit a roadside bomb in another area of the district, killing two women.
At least 10 other civilians were injured in the three blasts. The policemen were killed while responding to a gun battle being waged against insurgents early today at a checkpoint in the Musa Qala district of neighboring Helmand province.
Daoud Ahmadi, the spokesman in Helmand, said a group of Taliban fighters attacked the police checkpoint at about 3 am.
Afghan police called for reinforcements, but on the way, one of the police vehicles hit a roadside bomb, killing the five policemen.
Ahmadi says three other policemen were wounded in the four-hour gun battle against the insurgents.
He says the bodies of 20 insurgents were recovered from the battlefield.
Separately, two NATO service members were killed in southern Afghanistan one in a roadside bomb explosion on Saturday and the other during an insurgent attack on Sunday. (AP)