3 NATO troops killed; Afghan provincial health chief killed in explosion at clinic

3 NATO troops killed; bomb explodes in clinic

KABUL, Afghanistan — The head of a provincial health department in northern Afghanistan was killed Tuesday by a bomb planted in his private clinic, while three NATO service members were killed in attacks, officials said.

Dr. Azizullah Safari was walking up to his second-floor clinic when a bomb exploded under the stairwell, said Muhbobullah Sayedi, a spokesman for the governor of Kunduz province.

Also Tuesday, the international coalition reported the deaths of three service members, bringing to at least 67 the number of its troops killed in the war so far this month.

NATO said a U.S. troop died Tuesday following an insurgent attack in southern Afghanistan, but did not disclose further details.

British defense officials said a member of the 40 Commando Royal Marines was shot Tuesday during fighting in the Sangin district of southern Helmand province. Another member of the same unit died Monday night in a blast in Sangin, the officials said.

Meanwhile, NATO and Afghan forces captured a senior Taliban figure in an overnight raid, the international force said. The man had recently been appointed the Taliban’s finance chief in Baghlan, a northern province, NATO said. He was captured in Helmand along with two other suspected insurgents after a tip-off that he was staying in a compound in Nah-e Saraj district.

Also in the south, one child was killed Tuesday when a bomb, planted on a donkey, exploded at a checkpoint in Kandahar, said Qayum Khan, chief of investigation for the Kandahar police department. He said another child and an elderly man were injured in the explosion.

__

Associated Press writer Mirwais Khan contributed to this report from Kandahar