Roadside bomb kills ten policemen in Afghanistan

HERAT, Afghanistan, Mar 12 (Reuters) A roadside bomb detonated by Taliban fighters killed ten Afghan policemen in the western province of Farah today, a security official said.

The remotely-detonated bomb exploded as a police vehicle travelled through the province's Bakwa district.

''The newly-appointed security head of Bakwa was also among the dead,'' Khair Mohammad Baryali, an aide to Farah's security chief, told Reuters. He said one policeman was wounded.

''Pakistan-linked Taliban'' were behind the attack, Baryali said.

In neighbouring Helmand province, Western forces killed five Afghan civilians and wounded four in an air strike in Gereshk on Saturday night, according to Meera Jan, a tribal elder.

A spokeswoman for NATO said an air strike was carried out in Gereshk late yesterday but NATO forces were not involved, while a spokesman for a separate US-led force said he had no information.

Civilian casualties have fed resentment against the allies' forces and President Hamid Karzai's western-backed government.

Last year saw the worst violence in Afghanistan since the Taliban were ousted from power by the U.S.-led forces in late 2001.

More than 4,000 people died in fighting in 2006, including about 1,000 civilians. Suicide bombings jumped to 139 from 21.

Fighting is expected to be heavy in 2007 as the Taliban have warned that they have prepared thousands of suicide bombers.

NATO and Afghan troops last week launched their biggest operation so far to pre-empt the Taliban's spring offensive.

Reuters MS DB2038