30 killed as Taliban launches new wave of attacks

Nearly 30 people had been killed and many wounded in Afghanistan since weekend as the Taliban intensified offensive across the war-torn country. Early Thursday morning, two armed militants were killed and three civilians were wounded in an attack on a mosque in the Afghan capital of Kabul. "Two terrorists armed with two AK-47 guns, two pistols, two knives and ammunition entered Imam Hassan-e-Mujtaba mosque in western Kabul. They opened indiscriminate fire on people who were offering their morning prayers, injuring three people," the National Security Directorate (NDS), the country's intelligence agency, said in a statement. The attackers who were Pakistani nationals wore police uniform to disguise themselves in the attack, the NDS said. Eight civilians, including six women, were wounded when a Taliban mortar round hit a house near an army base in Maiwand district of southern Kandahar province late Wednesday night, the provincial government said in a statement. Also Wednesday night, four policemen were killed in a Taliban attack on a police checkpoint in Shindand district of western Herat province. In eastern Paktiya province, a tribal leader named Muqbil Fazli was shot dead on Wednesday. On Tuesday night, the militants broke into the house of a local leader named Noor-ul-Haq Aghondzada in eastern Ghazni province, killing him and two of his sons. On Tuesday, one Corruption Court judge named Sayed Ahmad Khaliqi was shot dead in a drive-by shooting in Herat city, capital of western Herat province. Meanwhile, four policemen were killed when an improvised explosive device (IED) targeted vehicle of the governor of northern Badakhshan province. On Monday, Afghan security forces arrested a would-be Taliban suicide bomber in eastern Kunar province, foiling an attack on a congested bazaar there. More than 40 trucks and oil tankers were destroyed and two heavy armed militants were killed when Taliban launched a coordinated attack at a parking lot near a military base in eastern Nangarhar province on Monday morning. Earlier, seven bullet-riddled bodies were found in Ghazni. The victims were said to be members of security forces kidnapped by militants along a main road in the province. On Sunday Sept. 1, eight workers of a local mine company were killed when their vehicle touched off an IED in relatively peaceful eastern Parwan province. Local analysts feared that the Taliban would launch more attacks across the country as Afghan army and police took the lead in combat operations and most of the foreign forces are due to withdraw from Afghanistan by the end of next year.