Blasts killed a policeman and eight civilians in southern Afghanistan Wednesday as Taliban militants said they had launched a spring offensive against Afghan and international forces, according to dpa. An explosives-laden vehicle was detonated in a busy market in Gerishk district of southern Helmand province. "Eight innocent civilians were killed and 17 others were wounded," provincial police Chief Mohammad Hussain Andewal said. The attack took place in a weekly market, where local farmers gather to sell their products. Meanwhile, a Taliban military commander said Wednesday that the rebels have launched a new "spring offensive", dubbed as "Ebrat" or "Lesson", against Afghan and international forces in the country. "The purpose of this operation is to give a lesson to the invading forces by giving them severe blows and to force them to end their occupation in Afghanistan," Mullah Bradar Akhund, deputy commander for Taliban's fugitive leader, Mullah Omar, said in a statement. The statement, which was posted in Taliban website, also asked the Afghan civilian and military workers to quit the Western-backed Afghan government and join the Taliban rank to fight against international forces. "In this operation we will carry out our operations in new ways, while using the experiences and tactics of the past several years," Bradar said, adding, "The new operation will be expanded to all the corners of the country so that the enemies are defeated in all over the country." NATO's Civilian spokesman in Afghanistan, Mark Laity called the new Taliban's threats as "old story and nonsense". "Their promise for spring is to destroy the promise of the international community and the Afghan government of more hospitals, more schools and more security," Laity told a press conference on Wednesday. Taliban were not able to fight Afghan and international forces in conventional war, Laity said, adding, ""they resort to suicide bombs. They lay them on the road, run away and hope that someone will hit them. And, maybe they will hurt civilians." Taliban militants also claimed responsibility for Wednesday's attack and said it was carried out by one of their fighters, who detonated the vehicle by a remote-control device. "It was carried out against military forces," Qari Mohammad Yousif Ahmadi told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa by phone from an undisclosed location. But Andewal said, "they were all civilians, they were no Afghan or international forces at the time of blast in the area." Meanwhile, a policeman was killed when the vehicle he was riding, was blown up by a roadside bomb in the same Gerishk district on Wednesday morning, Andewal said. More than 8,000 people - mostly insurgents - were killed in militancy last year, which was the bloodiest year, since the Taliban regime's ousting.
