Attacks Hit Kandahar, Killing 2 Afghan Civilians

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- A series of blasts killed at least two civilians and wounded several others Saturday in Afghanistan's main southern city, the scene of several recent deadly attacks on police.

At least four separate attacks rocked Kandahar city within two hours, police and government officials said.

In one attack, a motorized rickshaw carrying explosives exploded behind Kandahar's police headquarters in the center of town, said Zelmai Ayubi, spokesman for the governor of Kandahar province. One bystander was killed and three others wounded, Ayubi said.

On the east side of the city, insurgents attacked an oil tanker with gunfire, causing it to explode. One civilian was killed and at least two others were wounded.

A rocket fired by militants slammed into a prison compound in the city's west, police said. No casualties were immediately reported. Another explosion went off in the city's business district, also in the west. Details were not immediately available.

International and Afghan troops have been ramping up security in Kandahar city for months in an effort to grasp control of the country's largest southern city, where Taliban influence is high. A series of checkpoints have been set up around Kandahar city in an attempt to keep insurgents from entering and carrying out attacks.

The embattled south is the scene of Operation Dragon Strike, launched last month by NATO and Afghan forces in areas around Kandahar to flush out entrenched Taliban fighters and destroy their strongholds.

Separately in the south, a NATO service member was killed Saturday by a homemade bomb, the coalition said. NATO did not disclose the service member's nationality or details of the death. Forty-five U.S. and international troops have been killed in Afghanistan so far this month.

The nine-year war has inflicted a mounting toll on Afghan civilians who are caught in the crossfire.