9 Afghan civilians wounded in Ghazni

Up to nine civilians, including three children, were wounded on Friday in a gun battle between security forces and Taliban militants in eastern Ghazni province, the police said. "Armed Taliban insurgents launched attack against police checkpoints in Khak-e-Ghariban neighborhood, an area in western part of provincial capital Ghazni city at around 11 a.m. local time, but a Taliban mortar shell hit a house injuring nine innocent civilians," provincial police chief, Zarawar Zahid, told Xinhua. The injured included six women and three children with a woman said to be in critical conditions in the province 100 km south of Kabul, he said. The Taliban, which has been waging an insurgency of more than one decade, launched in May this year a spring offensive against Afghan and NATO forces. They warned the civilians to stay away from official gatherings, military convoys and centers regarded as the legitimate targets by militants. A total of 1,145 Afghan civilians were killed and 1,954 injured in conflicts in the first six months of 2012, according to a UN report released in capital Kabul on Aug. 8. It attributed 80 percent of the civilian deaths to the attacks of Taliban insurgents and other armed groups but another 10 percent of the deaths were attributed to Afghan and NATO-led forces and 10 percent were unattributed in the first six months this year.