Escalation of violence marked in Afghanistan

Four civilians and one policeman have been killed in two attacks near the Afghan capital Kabul.

In the first, which happened late on Monday evening around fifteen kilometres to the south of the city, a group of rebels fired missiles at a convoy of coalition military vehicles led by American troops.

However, the rockets missed and hit three civilian vehicles, killing four Afghans, including a child, and injuring another three people.

Shortly before dawn on Tuesday morning several rebels opened fire on a police vehicle, some 40 kilometres to the east of Kabul, killing a police academy instructor.

Afghanistan has seen a steady escalation of violence this year, mostly blamed on supporters of the deposed Taliban regime, who vowed to disrupt the landmark parliamentary and provincial elections held in September. However, despite the killings of several candidates and election workers in the run-up to the vote, there was relatively little violence on election day itself, AKI reports.

V.Y.