U.S.-led coalition and Afghan troops attacked a gathering of Taliban militants in southern Afghanistan, leaving 10 insurgents dead and 14 wounded, an Afghan official said Thursday.
Four Afghan soldiers were also wounded in the attack Wednesday evening in the Daychopan district of Zabul province, said district chief Fazel Bari.
The operation was launched after intelligence reports indicated that a Taliban gathering was taking place in the area, Bari said.
In Kandahar province, meanwhile, the Taliban ambushed a police vehicle in Zhari district on Wednesday, killing four officers and wounding two others, said Niyaz Mohammad Sarhadi.
Taliban also clashed with Afghan National Army troops in Tagab Valley, in Kapisa province, leaving five soldiers and three militants dead on Wednesday, the Defense Ministry said. Four militants were also wounded in the clash.
Also on Wednesday, a car bomb exploded near a convoy carrying a provincial governor in eastern Afghanistan, injuring nine people.
Afghanistan’s Interior Ministry said that Arsallah Jamal, the governor of Khost province, survived the blast in Khost city unhurt, but five of his bodyguards and four civilians were wounded.
U.S. troops surrounded the area of Wednesday’s blast and took the wounded to a hospital at their base near the city, said Gen. Mohammad Ayub, the provincial police chief.
It was at least the third attempt to kill Jamal, who was returning from a visit to districts near the border with Pakistan when he was targeted on Wednesday.