Afghan forces kill 16 Taliban, bomb blast wounds 17 civilians

Afghan security forces fighting the Taliban killed 16 militants on Tuesday when a bomb blast left 17 civilians injured in the militancy-plagued country, officials confirmed. The government forces in exerting pressure against militants, raided Taliban bankers in Qarabagh district of Ghazni province 125 km south of the national capital Kabul Tuesday morning, leaving a dozen insurgents dead. The clash, according to an official, erupted after armed militants targeted a police checkpoint early Tuesday and police retaliated. "A group of armed Taliban rebels raided a checkpoint of local police in Khan Zaman Khan village in Qarabagh district this morning and police retaliated leaving 12 rebels including their commander Mullah Noor Mohammad dead," security official Nazifullah Sultani told Xinhua. Taliban militants have yet to make comment. The government security forces also raided Taliban hideouts in Dahnai Ghori district of the northern Baghlan province in the morning, killing four militants and arresting eight others including two local commanders, the Interior Ministry confirmed in a statement. In a related violent incident for which the Taliban outfit has been blamed for, a bomb went off in Charikar city, the capital of Parwan province 55 km north of Kabul, wounding 17 civilians. "A bomb blast rocked Charikar city at 09:30 a.m. local time today injuring 17 civilians, four of them in critical conditions," a local official told Xinhua on condition of anonymity, who blamed Taliban militants for the attack. An eye witness, Karim, said that the bomb which was planted in a vehicle also damaged some shops and cars nearby. Militancy and conflicts get momentum in spring and summer commonly known as the fighting season in Afghanistan.