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Roundup: 2 blasts kill 3 Afghans, Taliban announces to kick off spring offensive

Xinhua, April 22, 2015 Adjust font size:

Three people including a senior security official were killed as two bomb blasts rocked Afghanistan's eastern Nanagarhar province on Wednesday, spokesman for provincial government Ahmad Zia Abdulzai confirmed.

One of those killed in the deadly blasts is a senior provincial intelligence official named Ghulam Haidar Haidari after his vehicle ran over a roadside bomb planted by militants on a road in Behsud district at around 9:30 a.m. local time today, according to the official.

"A roadside bomb organized by terrorists struck the vehicle of Ghulam Haidar Haidari killing him along with his driver," Abdulzai told Xinhua.

Around half an hour later, another blast targeted the vehicle of a logistic official of the Afghan Local Police (ALP) named Khan Wali, killing him on the spot and injuring two others, Abdulzai asserted.

Local police stands for community police composed of villagers to defend theirs areas against anti-government militants in far- flanged areas where regular security forces presence is thin.

The blast in Nangarhar coincided with the announcement of Taliban outfit to launch its annual spring offensive from April 24.

In a statement sent to media on Wednesday, the armed outfit fighting Afghan government to regain power set Friday April 24 as the launching day of their so-called spring offensive.

"Although the foreign occupying forces announced late last year the end of combat mission in Afghanistan, still they control the land and air space of the country and the command of war is in their hands," the statement said, adding if the foreign occupiers want to end the war in Afghanistan they should withdraw completely.

Taliban in the so-called spring offensive code name "Azm" which means "Resolution" also called upon Afghan civil and military servicemen to desert government rank and join Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (the name of Taliban ousted regime) which had ruled major part of the country before its collapse in late 2001.

In the statement, Taliban didn't say anything about the Afghan government-initiated peace process.

The government of Afghanistan has yet to make comment on Taliban announcement to kick off annual spring offensive or fresh wave of violence in the conflict-ridden central Asian state. Endi