Two Afghan policewomen and a civilian were killed by a mine on their way to work Thursday, a day after another five NATO soldiers died in the 10-year war against the Taliban.
The policewomen and civilian died when their vehicle was blown up by a remote-controlled mine on their way to work at the civilian airport serving the western city of Herat, officials said.
The latest deaths came a day after the United Nations released figures saying that violent incidents in the Afghan war increased nearly 40 percent in the first eight months of this year compared to the same period last year.
ISAF, which is leading efforts to reverse the Taliban insurgency, disputes the figures, calling them “inconsistent with the data that we have collected”. Mohammad Rafiq Shaheer, a spokesman for Herat hospital, said: “A remote-controlled mine explosion on a police vehicle on the Herat airport road has killed three people, two policewomen and a civilian, and wounded 10 people, four policewomen and a policeman and five other civilians.” He added that the attack took place around 8.00am.
Separately, two other soldiers died in separate incidents, one due to an insurgent attack in Wardak province, eastern Afghanistan and another “as a result of a non-battle related injury” in the south, ISAF said.
