Deadly attacks strike Afghan town

28 July 2011 Last updated at 14:08 GMT Insurgents have carried out a gun and bomb attack in the south Afghan town of Tarin Kowt, Uruzgan province, leaving at least 22 dead, officials say.

They said the violence included three suicide bombings followed by fighting in a market, adding that all eight attackers had now been killed.

The dead include Ahmed Omed Khpulwak, a local BBC reporter.

The Taliban say they carried out the attack, which comes amid renewed violence in Afghanistan.

Nato says it is providing air support to Afghan forces in Tarin Kowt.

TV station stormed

Afghan intelligence officials said at least one bomb exploded near the governor's office and one near the offices of a security firm owned by a local militia commander. It is not clear where the third bomb was detonated.

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Ahmed Omed Khpulwak was one of those brave reporters who have created that bond of trust with the people”

End Quote Peter Horrocks Director, BBC Global News Most of the fighting took place near these offices, which are close to the main market and a building which houses a local radio and TV station.

The BBC's Bilal Sarwary says the market was attacked from four sides, but the siege was broken by elite forces.

Residents said heavy machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades and assault rifles were used by both sides.

Health officials said 22 people had been killed including three women and 40 injured, most of them civilians.

Among the dead is Ahmed Omed Khpulwak, a reporter for the BBC Pashto radio service as well as the Pajhwok news agency.

He was one of several people killed when the TV and radio station was attacked.

BBC Global News director Peter Horrocks said: "The BBC and the whole world are grateful to journalists like Ahmed Omed who courageously put their lives on the line to report from dangerous places."

Two soldiers were among the dead but no senior government officials have been harmed, officials said.

Continue reading the main story 27 July: Kandahar mayor Ghulam Haidar Hameedi killed in suicide attack at city hall18 July: Aide to President Karzai and former Uruzgan governor Jan Mohammad Khan killed along with lawmaker in an attack on his home in Kabul12 July: The president's brother Ahmad Wali Karzai shot dead in Kandahar home by his head of security'Doomsday' Eyewitness Mohammad Dadu, a butcher at the market, told the BBC: ''I didn't have time to close my shop. I saw two dead bodies and four injured people with blood on their clothes.

"It feels like doomsday. Everyday people came to the market to shop. But today people are here collecting the dead and injured bodies of their relatives. There is blood, smoke from explosives and everyone has fled the area."

Afghan militants have stepped up their attacks as Nato troops begin the handover of security to local forces in parts of the country.

On Wednesday the mayor of the volatile city of Kandahar was killed in a suicide attack.

Two weeks ago, President Hamid Karzai's influential half-brother, Ahmad Wali Karzai, was killed in the same city.

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Deadly blast strikes Afghan bus

30 June 2011 Last updated at 20:34 GMT At least 13 people have been killed after a passenger bus in southern Afghanistan hit a roadside bomb, police officials say.

The attack took place on the highway between Kandahar and the south-western province of Nimroz.

Nimroz police chief Abdul Jadar Pordalai said more than 30 people had been injured.

He told the BBC that women and children were among the victims of the blast, which he blamed on the Taliban.

The road targeted is used by Afghan security forces as well as vehicles from the US-led international coalition.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the bombing.

In the past, the Taliban have distanced themselves from similar attacks resulting in civilian casualties.

US forces took some of those injured to be treated at a hospital in the area, Mr Pordalai said.

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Deadly US drone raid in Pakistan

15 June 2011 Last updated at 16:15 GMT Two US drone missile attacks have killed at least seven people in the Pakistani tribal region bordering Afghanistan, officials say.

The first attack hit a car, killing four people near the town of Wana in South Waziristan, officials said.

They said a second strike, in neighbouring North Waziristan, struck another vehicle, killing three people.

The area is a militant stronghold. Hundreds of people have died in dozens of such attacks in recent months.

The media are denied access to the area and independent confirmation of who has been killed in such attacks is not possible.

Surge in attacks

North Waziristan has been targeted by drone strikes for months. The US says North Waziristan is home to several militant groups involved in attacks on Nato forces in Afghanistan.

But many recent drone attacks have targeted South Waziristan - a leading al-Qaeda militant, Ilyas Kashmiri, was reported to have been killed there in a US strike earlier this month.

Militants have vowed to avenge Kashmiri's reported killing, as well as the killing by US forces of Osama Bin Laden last month.

United States officials do not routinely confirm that they have carried out drone attacks, but analysts say that only US forces have the capacity to carry out such strikes in the region.

Many militants, some of them senior, have been killed in the drone strikes, but hundreds of civilians have also died. The strikes are hugely unpopular among the Pakistani public.

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