Bomb hits Kabul taxi as Afghan violence kills 10

A roadside bomb along a busy Kabul road killed two Afghans today as fighting in the eastern provinces left a US-led coalition soldier and seven suspected Taliban dead, officials said.

The bomb in Kabul – the latest in a series of blasts that have rattled nerves in the capital – killed a man and a woman travelling in a taxi, and wounded four others, said Faiz Ahmad Hotaq, a police official.

In the eastern Kunar province, a coalition soldier, whose nationality was not disclosed, was killed yesterday in a firefight with militants, a coalition statement said.

Seven militants were also killed in Paktika province in clashes with coalition soldiers, it said. One coalition soldier was slightly wounded.

Violence has escalated sharply in Afghanistan this year, as Taliban-led rebels have stepped up attacks, particularly in their former southern heartland, drawing a tough response from Afghan and foreign forces.

More than 600 suspected Taliban militants have been killed in the US-led offensive in southern Afghanistan, the coalition said.

Nato-led forces are preparing to take over command of security operations there, a move that could lead to a reduction in the more than 21,000 US troops in Afghanistan.

The US military said today that two American engineer soldiers were seriously wounded in a roadside bomb attack in eastern Khost province.

The two were on their way to a road project on Sunday between the towns of Khost and Gardez when they were attacked, the military said. Their injuries were serious but not life threatening.

President Hamid Karzai, meanwhile, condemned the fatal shooting of an Afghan doctor and a driver for the international Christian relief and development organisation World Vision on Sunday after they delivered medicines to the town of Charsada in Ghor province – a rare attack in a relatively stable region.

Karzai said in a statement that the two were killed “at the instructions of foreigners,” but did not elaborate.

Afghan officials often accuse eastern neighbour Pakistan of providing a haven for Taliban-led guerrillas who have stepped up their insurgency this year, often targeting government officials and aid workers. Pakistan denies it, saying it does all it can to prevent cross-border infiltration by militants.