Kabul, November 22: A roadside bomb killed five Afghan border security guards on Sunday on a heavily used road in southern Afghanistan.
Gen Abdul Raziq, a border security commander, said the bombing occurred before dawn in the Spin Boldak district of Kandahar province, near the Pakistan border.
The attack comes amid reports that nearly a dozen militants suspected of having ties to high-ranking Taliban members were detained in separate operations on Sunday, underlining the security struggle in the country’s south.
The district is in a volatile area that has been patrolled mostly by border security police. US troops moved into the region in July.
Meanwhile, NATO said in a statement that forces detained several militants with links to the Taliban today.
Several people were detained in Kandahar province, including a suspected militant who NATO says was involved with suicide bombings in the area and has links to several senior local Taliban leaders.
South of Kabul, an Afghan-international security force detained several militants near the village of Kashimiri Balat while pursuing an alleged Taliban member involved in the weapons trade, it said.
The joint security force recovered a number of weapons, including grenades and a military-grade night vision device.
–PTI