Blast in Afghanistan; kills atleast 2 persons

Lashkar Gar (Afghanistan), Jul 17: A blast destroyed an Afghan government office in the southern province of Helmand today killing at least two people, a witness said.

In a separate incident, US-led forces said they had killed four suspected al Qaeda fighters during a raid in Khost province, once a stronghold of Osama bin Laden.

Police said the cause of today's blast opposite the police headquarters in Lashkar Gah, capital of Helmand province, was not clear.

Two bodies were taken away and bystanders said they thought more people were under the rubble of the building that included a justice department office.

Foreign troops are engaged in a big offensive against militants in the south, where a NATO peacekeeping force is due to take over from the US-led coalition force at the end of the month.

Coalition forces said in a statement that in addition to the deaths of the four suspected al Qaeda members, another three people were captured during the raid in Khost province, east of Kabul.

Residents in the town told sources one of those killed was a cleric.

After days of some of the heaviest fighting since the fall of the Taliban in 2001, coalition forces said they had destroyed a ''safe house'' of a known Taliban commander in Sangin district in Helmand province. The US military said the raid was conducted last night, but they did not name the commander who was targeted.

A British military spokesman said fighting in Nawzad town, also in Helmand province and the scene of almost daily firefights or bombing raids this month, had eased today after forces captured a hospital occupied by militants.

Also today, three Afghan soldiers were killed when a roadside bomb hit their convoy in Girishk district of Helmand, an army officer said.

Taliban fighters had also taken control in a thinly populated southern district of Helmand, a member of parliament said.

The Taliban had occupied Garmser district in Helmand overnight without any resistance from police, said the politician, Sher Mohammad Akhundzada.

The Taliban and their drug-gang allies have for years operated unmolested across Helmand, Afghanistan's main opium-growing province.

British and other NATO troops are now moving into lawless areas across the south, hoping to establish security but they are meeting a much more ferocious Taliban than expected.

The country's defence minister said in an interview published today that Afghan intelligence had learned the Taliban's command and control structure was fragmenting due to heavy losses and many mid-ranking commanders were fleeing to Pakistan.

''I think that in the next two or three months there will be some major changes,'' General Abdul Rahim Wardak told the Financial Times.

Wardak said Taliban militants had stepped up attacks to undermine public support for the Afghan mission in NATO countries.

REUTERS

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