Taliban bomb kills 4 locals in S Afghanistan

LASHKAR GAH, Afghanistan - A Taliban bomb killed four local elders in Kajaki district in southern Afghan province of Helmand Tuesday night, a senior provincial official said Wednesday.  

"A bomb planted by Taliban insurgents went off at around 8 pm local time Tuesday, killing four local leaders named Khirullah, Musa Kalim, Abdul Ghafoor and Qudratullah in Azan area of Kajaki district," head of provincial governor office, Mohammad Lal Ahmadi, told Xinhua.

He said the killed elders were en route to a mosque to take part in a special praying in Muslim fasting month of Ramadan when the blast occurred in the province, 555 km south of capital Kabul.

The Taliban-led insurgency has been rampant since the militant group launched an annual spring offensive dubbed "Al-Farooq" from May 3 against Afghan and NATO-led troops stationed in the country.

The insurgent group has warned the civilians to stay away from official gatherings, military convoys and centers regarded as the legitimate targets by militants besides warning people against supporting government and foreign troops.

In a separate development, a would-be suicide bomber was shot dead by Afghan Local Police (ALP) in the country's northern province of Kunduz earlier Wednesday.

"A suicide bomber wearing the uniform of ALP intended to target an graduation ceremony in an ALP training center in Dashti Archi district at round 7 am but the ALP forces positively identified and killed him before detonating his explosive vest in the compound," administrative chief of the district, Shaikh Sadruddin, told Xinhua.

He said an investigation was launched to probe how the attacker made his way to enter the facility.  

Up to 20 people were killed and 30 others injured when a motorbike bomb went off in Dashti Archi district's bazaar late Tuesday evening.