Bomb kills nine civilians in Afghanistan: police

A roadside bomb killed four civilians in southern Afghanistan, authorities said Sunday, as tension over the deaths of non-combatants in military operations rises between Kabul and foreign allies.The four were killed Saturday when their vehicle struck a bomb planted on a road in Kandahar province, the interior ministry said blaming the strike on the insurgents.The Taliban frequently use home-made bombs and landmines in their attacks on military targets. The devices however, often kill civilians sharing the same roads with the Afghan and foreign military and security forces.

Six people were killed by a bicycle bomb which hit shoppers at a crowded Afghan bazaar Friday as the government hit out at Pakistan over cross-border strikes following the death of four children.Five civilians plus one policeman died in the blast in the northern province of Kunduz while 22 others, including women and children, were wounded on Afghanistan's main weekly day of rest."Six people have been killed and 22 others injured as a result of today's explosion," provincial police spokesman Sarwar Hussaini said.

A roadside bomb blast in southern Afghanistan killed 15 civilians, including children, a provincial spokesman said, blaming the attack on Taliban militants.The truck was on its way from Khair Abad village to Khansheen district centre in Helmand province when it was hit by a home-made device late Friday, provincial spokesman Daud Ahmadi told AFP."The blast killed 15 civilians and wounded another four," he said, adding that children were among the dead.

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — Militants killed six Americans, including a young female diplomat, and an Afghan doctor in a pair of attacks in Afghanistan on Saturday. It was the deadliest day for the United States in the war in eight months.

Three civilians and a senior police officer died in Afghanistan on Sunday, as foreign forces and officials said more than 20 militants were killed in air strikes and fighting, mainly in the restive south.The three were killed by a roadside bomb in southern Kandahar province that NATO commanders said showed the insurgents' "complete disregard for the lives of innocent Afghan civilians".Small arms fire and a rocket attack later killed the police chief of Musa Khel district of Khost province in the east, the provincial commander, Abdul Hakim Ishaqzai, told AFP.

Five people including a policeman were killed and 14 others wounded Friday in a suicide car bomb attack on a police post in Khost, eastern Afghanistan, police said."The attacker used a Toyota van to attack a police post in Khost city," local police chief Abdul Hakim Eshaqzai told AFP."Among the dead is one police officer and four adult civilians and among the injured there are two police officers, two women and 10 other male adults."Eshaqzai added: "This is an act of terror and is done by the enemies of the people and government of Afghanistan."

Roadside bombs in Afghanistan killed eight civilians, including at least three women and a child, police said on Tuesday.Among the deaths was Zakaria Khan, an influential tribal elder who was killed Tuesday in an explosion in the southern province of Kandahar, said Zalmai Ayoubi, a provincial government spokesman.Khan, a pro-government tribal chieftain, died in his timber shop in the town of Spin Boldak on the Pakistan border, Ayoubi said. The blast appeared as if someone had thrown a hand grenade, he added.Two other elders there were injured, he added.