Premature detonations kill 7 Taliban insurgents in southern Afghanistan

USPA News - Seven suspected Taliban insurgents were killed in southern Afghanistan late on Friday when their own explosives detonated prematurely, officials said on Saturday. It is believed the militants were attempting to target Afghan security forces.

The insurgents were killed on Friday evening in two separate incidents in Kandahar province, which is located in Afghanistan`s volatile southern region that was the birthplace of the Taliban movement two decades ago. There were no casualties among civilians or security forces in either incident. The first explosion happened on a road in the Haday Ghra area of Arghistaan district when a group of Taliban-affiliated insurgents was attempting to plant improvised explosive devices (IEDs) to target Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) in the area, according to a provincial spokesman, who said six of the insurgents were killed. The second incident happened on a road near a school in the Girandi area of Panjwayi district. "The mentioned insurgent was trying to plant an IED to harm Afghan National Security Forces but it resulted in his own death by his own IED explosion," the spokesman said on Saturday. In a third incident on Friday evening, two children were killed and four female relatives were injured when Taliban insurgents fired a mortar at Afghan security forces in the Maiwand district of Kandahar province. It happened when security forces were pursuing insurgents in the region, during which the soldiers came under fire. "The wounded civilians have been evacuated to hospital for health recoveries by ANSF and investigations are still continuing to find out the manufacturing country of the mortar which was fired by the Taliban," the provincial spokesman said. "Based on previous investigations after such incidents, findings say that many mortars fired by the Taliban are land-to-land which were supplied by neighboring countries to the Taliban fighting in Afghanistan."