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Afghan men working as soldiers of a NATO-led coalition patrol - Source: Reuters -
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At least 27 people, most of them civilians and one a provincial
mayor were killed in a spate of attacks in Afghanistan, officials
said.
Violence has sharply increased in recent years in Afghanistan
despite the growing number of NATO and US troops, more than seven
years on since the Islamist Taliban were ousted from power by
US-backed Afghan forces.
In the bloodiest incident, 12 civilians - four women, two children
and six men - were killed by a roadside bomb that struck as they
drove in a tractor in the Shamolzai district of southern Zabul
province, said Mohammad Wazir, district chief of Shamolzai.
"This was a mine newly planted by the Taliban," he told
Reuters.
A while later, Taliban guerrillas ambushed a convoy of a security
firm in another area of Zabul, killing six Afghan security guards
in the convoy and two civilians nearby, Ghulam Jailani, a senior
provincial police official, said.
Earlier on Monday, a provincial mayor was among seven people killed
by a teenage suicide bomber who blew himself up at the gate of a
municipal administration building in the eastern province of
Laghman, the Interior Ministry said.
Three body guards and three civilians were killed along with the
province's mayor, Mohammad Rahim, the Interior Ministry said.
A spokesman for the provincial governor's office, Sayed Ahmad
Sopai, said 10 people were also wounded, including three women.
He said the suicide bomber was identified as a 14-year-old boy
from Paktika province further south.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for any of the
attacks.
The Taliban have frequently used suicide bombers to strike
government buildings as part of their campaign to drive foreign
forces from Afghanistan.
The militant group has extended the size and scope of its activity
and has carried out a number of high-profile attacks in major
cities since last year.
To fight the Taliban insurgency, the United States plans to more
than double its forces in Afghanistan this year, from 32,000 at the
start of the year to a projected 68,000 by year's end.
Other Western countries have about 30,000 troops in Afghanistan.
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