3 Afghan youths killed in Taliban rocket attack in Kandahar

Three Afghan youths were killed while four others wounded when a rocket fired by the Taliban landed in Maiwand district of southern Kandahar province Saturday evening, sources said. "Three footballers were killed and four injured as the rocket fired by the Taliban hit a football in Maiwound district at around 5:45 p.m. (local time) Saturday. The killed and the injured were admitted to the district hospital," provincial government spokesman Jawid Faisal told Xinhua. Kandahar is notorious for growing poppy and is a known Taliban hotbed. Earlier on Saturday, three civilians and four policemen were wounded when an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) attached to a bicycle went off in neighboring Spin Boldak district. The Taliban insurgent group has yet to make comments. On Friday night, three Taliban launched a suicide bombing and shooting attack at a restaurant in the country's capital Kabul, killing 21 people, 13 of them foreign nationals. More than 2,500 Afghan civilians were killed and over 5,000 wounded in Taliban-led attacks and violence last year, according to Afghan and UN assistance mission officials to Afghanistan.