A provincial lawmaker was "seriously injured" Monday in an attack in northern Afghanistan, officials said, while separate clashes claimed Taliban and police lives in other parts of the country, DPA reported.
Councilwoman Neda Kayaniwas was struck by two bullets early Monday while driving through the centre of Pulikhomri, the capital of Baghlan province, deputy provincial police chief Sayed Zamanuddin said.
"She is in serious condition, because a bullet struck her in the abdomen and she has lost a lot of blood," he said. There were no immediate claims of responsibility.
At least 10 members of parliament and several provincial lawmakers have been killed in Afghanistan since 2005.
In a clash in the eastern province of Nangarhar, Afghan and international forces Monday killed 10 suspected Taliban militants in a compound, NATO said.
A civilian was also killed by a stray bullet in the firefight, Abdul Ghafoor, a spokesman for the provincial police chief, said. Five of the dead militants were Pakistani Taliban and the rest were from the area, he added.
On Sunday, Taliban militants attacked a police convoy near Dana Ghori district in Baghlan, provincial Governor Munshi Abdul Majeed said.
The militants torched two of the police pickup trucks and captured four others, he said. Four police officers were also missing following the attack, Majeed said.
Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the attack by phone, confirming the capture of the four officers. He claimed that his fighters captured six vehicles during the raid.
Taliban militants are active in several districts in Baghlan and the neighbouring province of Kunduz, where a Japanese journalist reportedly went missing on Thursday.
The Afghan Interior Ministry said Monday that the police were searching for the missing reporter, but did not confirm reports that he was kidnapped by the militants.
Also on Sunday, in the southern province of Helmand three Afghan police officers were killed and three injured in a firefight with Taliban militants in Nahr-e-Saraj district, the provincial governor's spokesman Daoud Ahmadi said.
Fighting between Taliban insurgents and the Afghan forces, backed by more than 120,000 NATO-led international troops, tends to intensify in spring and summer after a lull in the harsh winter months.
Up 30,000 additional US and NATO troops are expected to arrive in the country by this summer, in an effort to turn the tide of the eight-year war.
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