Afghan child, rebels killed in attacks on foreign troops

KABUL - A suicide car bomb exploded near NATO troops in Afghanistan Wednesday, killing a child, as the US military said a dozen rebels were killed in an air strike after they attacked a humanitarian convoy.
The car bomb blew up close to a NATO military convoy around the town of Spin Boldak near the border with Pakistan, border police commander Abdul Raziq told AFP.
‘The troops did not suffer any casualties but a child nearby was killed,’ he said. The boy was aged between eight and 10.
Raziq said the troops were from the Canadian military but the force, based at the nearby city of Kandahar, did not immediately have information about the attack.
It came a day after three NATO soldiers, including a Canadian, died in other attacks in Afghanistan.
The Canadian soldier was shot Tuesday when a foot patrol came under attack from insurgents in Kandahar's volatile Panjwayi district, the military said.
Two other International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) soldiers were killed in a roadside bombing claimed by the Taleban in the eastern province of Paktia.
Their nationalities were not released but most troops in that area are American.
International soldiers were also wounded in an attack Tuesday in the volatile southern province of Helmand, announced the US-led coalition which works alongside ISAF and Afghan security forces.
The troops were on a humanitarian mission near the key centre of Sangin when one of their vehicles struck a mine, the coalition said in a statement. The convoy was then ambushed and another vehicle struck a mine.
‘Insurgents were seen entering homes in an attempt to use them as fighting positions, causing residents to flee,’ the statement said.
‘Coalition forces then ensured that there were no women or children in the area before using precision air strikes against the insurgents,’ it said, adding more than a dozen insurgents were killed.
A spokesman said some troops were injured but they were not US nationals. He could not give details.
British troops have in particular fought hard over the past years for Sangin, in the heart of Afghanistan's opium and heroin production centre.
The international forces are trying to bring in development and aid to win locals over as a means to defeat a Taleban insurgency.
The Taleban were in government in Kabul between 1996 and 200.