Six children die in Afghanistan bomb blast; top policewoman shot dead
An Afghan policewoman stands guard during a ceremony to mark International Women’s Day in Lashkar Gah in Helmand province on Mar. 8, 2010.
Roadside bombs killed six children in Afghanistan on Thursday, while a female policewoman was gunned down in Helmand province.
Four young girls were killed while fetching water for a wedding in Lashkar Gah after a bomb exploded on a footpath.
In the same town, two gunmen on motorcycles opened fire on a female police inspector killing her.
The policewoman, Islam Bibi, 37, died in hospital. Her son-in-law was also wounded in the attack.
Bibi was a face of female equality in post-Taliban Afghanistan and had been receiving death threats from those who disapproved of her role.
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“She was shot by unknown assailants when she was being driven to work by her son in the morning,” Helmand provincial government spokesman Omar Zwak told AFP.
Bibi had returned to Afghanistan in 2001 after being a refugee in Iran.
Two young boys were also killed in Afghanistan on Thursday while they made their way home from school in the eastern province of Paktika. They were reportedly killed after triggering a roadside bomb.
A NATO troop was killed Thursday in fighting but few details were released about the nationality of the service member.
Thursday's fighting also saw 11 Taliban fighters dead and separate operations south of Kabul. Seven other militants were wounded it is believed.
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