Taliban mounts new wave of violent attacks in Afghanistan

Kabul, July 15 (Xinhua-ANI): Taliban insurgents have been mounting a new wave of violent attacks over the past couple of weeks since they launched the annual spring offensive against Afghan government forces and NATO-led troops.

A total of 18 people were injured Sunday morning when Taliban carried out twin blasts in eastern Logar province, some 60 km south of capital city of Kabul, a provincial police source said.

"Our report said that a total of 18 people with majority of them civilians were injured in two back-to-back bomb blasts in provincial capital Pul-e-Alam this morning," deputy provincial police chief Rahis Khan Saddiq told Xinhua.

He said a number of police and army soldiers were among the injured.

The attackers seems to have followed old tactics which depends on creating initial blast to attract security forces and people, then they set off another blast to get higher casualties.

A total of 14 civilians were killed and nine injured in similar bomb attacks in southern Kandahar province on July 8.

Earlier Sunday morning, Afghan Higher Education Minister Obidullah Obid, who was travelling to northern Kunduz province, escaped a bomb attack in neighboring Baghlan province in an attack that injured two policemen.

"The blast took place at around 08:50 a.m. local time in Jari-e- Khoshk area of Baghlan-e-Markazi district but minister Obid was unharmed and keep on his trip to Kunduz province shortly after the blast," police chief of the district, Colonel Mohammad Kamin, told Xinhua.

Meantime, Afghan police, army and NATO-led coalition forces have been mounting pressure against the Taliban.

Up to 15 Taliban insurgents have been killed and six others detained in operations carried out by the joint forces within the past 24 hours, the country's Interior Ministry said Sunday morning.

"A total of seven armed Taliban insurgents were also wounded during the 10 raids launched by the joint forces in Nangarhar, Laghman, Kunduz, Uruzgan, Wardak, Ghazni, Herat and Helmand provinces throughout the past 24 hours," the ministry said in a statement providing daily operational updates.

On Saturday, a suicide bombing against a wedding party in the northern province of Samangan left 17 people dead and 43 others injured. An influential parliamentarian and a province intelligence chief were among the killed.

On Friday, a bomb attack killed an Afghan woman official and her husband in the eastern province of Laghman. Another 11 civilians, including her daughter and her driver, were also injured in the assault. A senior provincial officer was shot and killed in western Herat province on the same day.

A police officer and his 17-year-old son were also killed after militants broke out into his house in northern Baghlan province early Friday morning.

The Taliban stepped up their attacks on Afghan and NATO-led troops since a spring offensive was launched in May in the war- ravaged country.

The Taliban insurgents has warned the civilians to stay away from official gatherings, military convoys and centers regarded as the legitimate targets by militants besides warning people against supporting government and foreign troops. (Xinhua-ANI)