Roadside blast kills 6 Afghan national army soldiers

At least six Afghan National Army (ANA) soldiers were killed on Monday in a roadside bomb explosion in northeastern Badakhshan province of Afghanistan, an official said.
Deputy police chief of Badakhshan, Col. Sayyed Abdul Qadir Sayyad told media that the ANA vehicle was heading toward Wardoj district when it struck the explosives planted by insurgents in the Baharak district. The attack came at time when military offensives were underway to purge Wardoj and Kamkan districts of militants that killed number of Taliban rebels and ANA soldiers so far.
Meanwhile, the district police chief for Arghistan district of southern Kandahar province of Afghanistan has been killed along with his two bodyguards in a suicide attack at the police headquarter, which also left six policemen wounded, an official said Monday.
Samim Khpolwak, spokesman for the provincial governor in Kandahar confirmed that the police chief, Abdul Manaf, and two policemen who served as his bodyguards died in the explosion while six other policemen were wounded.
The violence comes amid the Taliban annual offensive during the fair spring and summer weather. The offensive is targeting the security forces of Afghanistan as foreign combat troops prepare to withdraw by the end of the year.