Multiple blasts kill 11 Afghan police

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, May 17 (Reuters) A series of roadside explosions killed at least 11 police officers in Afghanistan today, witnesses and officials said, in the latest eruption of violence blamed on the Taliban.

In a suburb of Kabul, police said they intercepted a truck carrying 1,500 kg of explosives destined for suicide attacks.

Two blasts killed 10 police officers in the southern city of Kandahar, a bastion for Taliban guerrillas.

The first killed four police in their vehicle. When another group of police arrived at the scene to carry away the bodies, a second blast went off near the site of the first explosion.

Six more officers were killed and a cameraman for the Arabic Al Jazeera television network was among the wounded.

A roadside bomb in Faizabad, the provincial capital of northeastern Badakhshan province, wounded the province's top police officer when the device damaged his vehicle. One of his bodyguards was killed and another wounded.

Another roadside bomb, aimed at a police vehicle, killed two civilians in the southeastern province of Paktia, officials said.

Officials said the Taliban were behind today's attacks. The Taliban could not be contacted immediately for comment.

In the Kabul suburb of Khair Khana, police intercepted a cache of explosives being trucked into the city. Three people were arrested.

''We have discovered 30 bags of explosives, which were placed in a truck and they wanted to bring them inside Kabul to carry out terrorist acts,'' said Ali Shah Paktiawal, head of the police crime branch.

He said each bag contained 50 kg (110 lb) of explosives, which were meant for suicide bombings.

More than 4,000 people, a quarter of them civilians, were killed in fighting in 2006, the most violent year since the Taliban were ousted in 2001.

The militants have vowed to step up attacks on foreign forces, or anyone they believe cooperates with them, and say they have trained hundreds of suicide bombers.

Most attacks involve roadside bombs and suicide blasts.

Western troops, led by NATO and the US military, have also increased their ground and air operations to pre-empt the Taliban in a year regarded as a crunch period for all sides in the war.

A US-led coalition raid killed the Taliban's top operational commander, Mullah Dadullah, in southern Afghanistan at the weekend.

REUTERS SKB ND1740