A suicide attack killed a US and a Nepalese working with a foreign security firm in capital Kabul, while 15 suspected Taliban fighters were killed and three wounded in southern Afghanistan, officials said on Thursday. A bomber drove his explosives-laden vehicle into a convoy of security contractors on the eastern outskirts of Kabul Thursday, killing the US and Nepalese national and wounding three other US citizens, said Alishah Paktiawal, head of the Criminal Investigation department of the Kabul police. The attack also killed one Afghan and wounded three bystanders while two vehicles in the convoy were destroyed, the interior ministry said in a statement. Zabiullah Mujahid, a purported Taliban spokesman, claimed Taliban responsibility for the attack, according to a report of DPA. killed or wounded. In a separate development, Afghan and NATO forces killed some 15 suspected Taliban, including a commander, in southern Afghanistan on Wednesday, the defense ministry said in a statement on Thursday. Afghan and international forces attacked Taliban hideouts in Gerishk district of southern Helmand province on Wednesday, killing eight Taliban fighters and destroying their weapons cache, the statement said. Meanwhile, on the same day, the joint forces attacked Taliban positions in Murbat village of Trin Kot district of southern Uruzgan province, killing seven militants and wounding three others, the statement said, adding that one Afghan soldier was also wounded in the firefight. More than 2,000 people, mostly insurgents, have been killed in violence this year, with heavy fighting taking place mainly in the southern and eastern regions of the country.
