Taliban attack police in SE Afghanistan; US death toll for June at 31

Taliban attack police in SE Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan — The Taliban claimed responsibility for a suicide car bombing Thursday morning outside a district police headquarters in southeastern Afghanistan that wounded four Afghan policemen, one critically.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said the suicide bomber used a stolen police vehicle to conduct the attack in the Andar district of Ghazni province. Deputy Police Chief Nawroz Ali Nawroz said police saw the vehicle speeding toward them and opened fire before the bomber detonated his explosives, injuring the policemen and damaging the building.

On Wednesday, three Americans were killed by roadside bombs, pushing the death toll among U.S. troops so far this month to 31. NATO said one U.S. servicemember died in a bombing in southern Afghanistan, and two were killed in a bombing in the north.

The northern attack occurred in the Baghi Shirkat area, about 19 miles (30 kilometers) west of Kunduz city, said Kunduz provincial government spokesman, Muhbobullah Sayedi. U.S. and Afghan forces conducted an operation early Wednesday in Baghi Shirkat in which 12 militants were killed, including two local Taliban commanders, Sayedi said.

June is becoming one of the deadliest months for U.S. troops in the nearly 9-year-old Afghan war, as insurgents have stepped up attacks in response to a NATO push into Taliban strongholds in the south.

The deadliest month for U.S. troops in Afghanistan was October 2009, when 59 Americans died, including seven soldiers killed in a single clash near Kandahar and seven who died in a helicopter crash in the northwest not caused by hostile fire.

On Wednesday in Ghazni province, three Afghans working for a private security company were killed when their vehicle struck a roadside bomb in Muqar district, the deputy police chief said.

Also, nine Pakistani militiamen were apprehended early Wednesday inside Afghan territory in Kunar province, provincial Police Chief Khalilullah Ziaye said. The Pakistanis said they fled into Afghanistan to escape attacks by the Pakistani Taliban against four of their checkpoints, Ziaye said. The nine remained in custody pending an investigation, he said.

(This version CORRECTS Corrects that US service members were killed Wednesday, not Thursday.)