New attack of Taliban Shaheed

A roadside bomb in northwestern Afghanistan has killed a Finnish solder and wounded four Norwegians, military officials say.

 

The occupants were accompanying medical personnel of the Nato-led occupation force in Maymana, capital of Faryab province, when the bomb exploded on Wednesday, the Finnish military said.

 

The soldier died an hour later. The incident happened at around 06:00 GMT.

 

“We’ve had warnings of possible attacks in the Afghanistan,” Colonel Mauri Koskela of the Finnish defence command said in Helsinki, but gave no details.

 

In the Norwegian capital, Oslo, a spokesman for the Norwegian joint command said the Norwegians were slightly injured.

 

“Two Norwegian officers were injured – it was minor not life threatening – and two other Norwegians suffered superficial injuries,” Lieutenant-Colonel John Inge Ogland said.

 

It was the first time a Finnish soldier was killed on duty in Afghanistan, where the neutral Nordic country has some 70 solders.

 

Norway, a Nato-member, has 650 troops in the country, including some 100 at the Maymana base.

 

Meanwhile, in Kabul on Wednesday, a new suicide blast struck, killing a puppet “policeman” and wounding six Afghans and a foreigner, according to karzai “police” and a witness.

 

The karzai representative said the attacker, who was on a motorcycle,  had been spotted by police and was being chased when he blew himself up “before reaching his target.”

 

The witness said, however, he had seen a motorcyclist chase an armoured vehicle of foreigners for about 100 metres and then blow  himself up when one of the occupants pulled a gun on him.

 

The blast appeared to strike the vehicle. “I could see a man covered in blood inside the vehicle. It drove away,” said the man, who did not give his name.

 

On Sunday, at least 14 people were killed and dozens wounded after a suicide bomber blew himself up in a busy market in eastern Afghanistan.

 

The Taliban claimed credit for the bombing in Gardez which came a day after a suicide blast in the northern town of Kunduz killed 10 people, including three German occupation soldiers.