Afghan police shot dead suicide bomber in southern province

Afghan police shot and killed a would- be suicide bomber in the country's southern province of Helmand on Sunday. "A Taliban suicide bomber was approaching a police patrol in Kajaki district, Helmand province at around 9:30 a.m. today, but police opened fire killing him on the scene before detonating his explosives," the Afghan Interior Ministry confirmed in a statement, adding no member of the police force was harmed in the incident. Taliban insurgent fighting Afghan and the NATO-led coalition forces stationed in the country have yet to make comments. On Saturday evening, two teenagers 16-year-old Zalgai and his 9- year-old sister Hina were killed in a drive-by shooting in the eastern province of Ghazni, a provincial government spokesman said Sunday. "Two armed men riding a motorbike opened fire on a vehicle parked outside a house in police district 5 in Ghazni city, killing the innocent children on the spot," spokesman Faiz Sabawoon told Xinhua, adding the obvious target of the attack was the father of the victims who was not at the car when the shooting occurred. The man works for a government agency, he said. No group claimed responsibility. Taliban militants are blamed for such attacks. Violence has been on the rise since Taliban launched an annual spring offensive on May 3.