Afghan skirmishes claim 36 lives in 2 days

Taliban-linked insurgency and conflicts have claimed the lives of 36 people including nine civilians over the past two days in the conflict-ridden Afghanistan, officials said Wednesday. In the latest string of violent incidents, a roadside bomb struck a civilian vehicle in Taliban hotbed the southern Helmand province Wednesday morning leaving all the commuters, the four non- combatants dead. Four Afghan civilians were killed as a roadside bomb struck a car in Helmand province 555 km south of Afghan capital Kabul on Wednesday, Interior ministry said in a statement released here. "The tragic incident happened in Alizai area of Nawzad district at 08:30 a.m. local time killing all the four travelers on the spot," the statement added. It also blamed Taliban militants for planting the mine, saying all those killed in the blast were civilians. In a related violent event, Taliban militants after kidnapping five civilians in Kunar province 185 km east of Afghan capital Kabul, shot them dead and handed their bodies over to the villagers on Wednesday morning, provincial police spokesman, Shir Wali Samim said. "Taliban rebels abducted five members of local development council in Watapur district couple of days ago and after shooting them dead last night, handed their bodies over to the villagers this morning," Samim told Xinhua. The local development council is a government-back body working with local administration on reconstruction field in rural areas. Taliban militants, who fight the government and target any individual serving the administration and NATO-led troops, have yet to make comment. Meantime, the Afghan Interior Ministry in a statement released here Wednesday reported killing 27 Taliban fighters over the past two days. "Afghan National Police backed by the army and NATO-led coalition forces have killed 27 Taliban militants during series of operations conducted in Kabul, Laghman, Kunduz, Sar-e-Pul, Kandahar, Zabul, Uruzgan and Nangarhar provinces over the past 24 hours," the Interior Ministry statement added.