Home
Discover Islam
Quran Recitations
Lectures
Fatwa
Articles
Fiqh
E-Books
Women
Boys & Girls 
Articles
Violence in north, south and east Afghanistan killed more than a dozen civilians and wounded several more as President Barack Obama prepares to unveil a review of his strategy for the near decade-long war.
The latest string of attacks comes near the end of the deadliest year since the 2001 overthrow of the Taliban, with the escalating of war costing the lives of a record number of both ordinary Afghans and foreign troops.
Obama said on a visit to Afghanistan last week that troops are making "important progress" and Defense Secretary Robert Gates said in Kabul soon after that he “was convinced the war was on the right track”.
In southern Afghanistan, a roadside bomb killed 15 civilians and a car bomb wounded five police, in the north a bomber driving a police car wounded nine, and in the east seven men died in a disputed incident that sent hundreds pouring onto the streets of Gardez city in a protest that turned violent.
Police and protesters, both armed in a country awash with weapons, fired at each other and burning tire barricades filled the streets with smoke. Six civilians and two policemen were wounded, said Nader Noori, doctor at the Gardez hospital.
Local officials said an air strike by the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) killed seven road construction company employees overnight. ISAF said Afghan and foreign troops were approached and then fired on by armed men while hunting a fighter and shot back, killing seven.
According to U.N. figures, 1,271 civilians were killed in the first six months of this year, up by a fifth on the same period in 2009. About 680 troops have been killed so far in 2010, around a third of the number killed since the start of the war.
Obama is expected to unveil a “review” of his Afghanistan war strategy next week, although officials have said they do not expect it to result in any major policy shifts.
He has pledged to start bringing home U.S. troops from July 2011 but has not yet decided on the pace or scale of the withdrawal. Many of his commanders and officials say it should happen gradually.
Helmand, Kandahar deaths
In southern Helmand province, 15 Afghan civilians were killed on Friday when their vehicle struck a roadside bomb, said provincial spokesman Dawud Ahmadi. "It was a newly planted mine," said Ahmadi, but had no further details.
In neighboring Kandahar province, a car bomb blast on Saturday near the police headquarters wounded four Afghan police and two civilians, said Zalmai Ayoubi, spokesman for the Kandahar provincial governor. Several police vehicles were destroyed.
Helmand and Kandahar provinces have been the epicenter of a renewed surge against Taliban fighters by U.S. and other foreign troops over the past 18 months.
PHOTO CAPTION
Afghan National Army (ANA) soldiers investigate at the site of a suicide bomb attack in Char Dara district of Kunduz province December 11, 2010.
Agencies
