10 militants killed in eastern Afghanistan

[January 22, 2011]  KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- Three suicide attackers detonated their explosives vests during a gunbattle with Afghan and coalition forces that left 10 militants and one civilian dead Saturday in Khost province of eastern Afghanistan.

Provincial police chief Abdul Hakim Ishaqzia said the battle, which lasted several hours early Saturday morning, began after insurgents fired a rocket toward a group of Afghan and NATO forces who were preparing to go on patrol in the Sabari district.

The joint force killed 10 militants and arrested 12 others, he said.

"There were no casualties among the security forces, but one civilian was killed and two other civilians, including one woman and a child, were wounded as a result of the suicide attacks," he said.

Weapons, a suicide vest, explosives and bomb-making equipment were found at the site.

On Friday, an Afghan woman was killed when she was struck by a coalition convoy in Herat province in western Afghanistan, NATO said. The convoy stopped and the woman was taken to medical facility, but she died of injuries she sustained in the accident, the coalition said.

[Associated Press]

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