Afghan suicide bomber kills 3 family members
KABUL, Oct 15 (Reuters) A suicide bomber killed his mother, sister and 11-year-old brother when his explosives vest blew up prematurely in southern Afghanistan, the Interior Ministry said today.
The blast occurred in the southern Afghan province of Uruzgan yesterday where mainly Dutch and Australian troops have suffered a number of casualties fighting Taliban insurgents.
Australia suffered its first combat death in Afghanistan a week ago when a soldier was killed by a roadside bomb in Uruzgan. Two Dutch soldiers have been killed by suicide bombs in Uruzgan this year. Eleven Dutch troops have been killed in Afghanistan.
Further north, 14 troops from the NATO-led force in Afghanistan were wounded in a Taliban ambush southwest of the capital Kabul, a spokesman for the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said today.
The troops came under fire during a patrol in the province of Wardak, immediately southwest of Kabul, yesterday.
The troops called in air support, but there was no word on Taliban casualties and no reports that any civilians had been hurt in the fighting, the spokesman said.
Turkish troops make up most of the ISAF contingent in Wardak, which has seen escalating violence in the last year as Taliban militants have spread their influence northwards from their traditional strongholds of support in the south.
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