Soldier among dead in violence

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan – Afghan troops clashed with Taliban insurgents attacking a supply convoy for NATO troops, killing nine militants, officials said Saturday. Roadside bombs killed a NATO soldier in a separate convoy and four policemen.

The militants were killed after they attacked a supply convoy for NATO-led troops in Zabul province, said provincial police official Jalali Khan. There were no casualties among Afghan troops, he said.

In neighboring Kandahar province, a blast struck a police patrol in Maywand district, killing four officers and wounding another, said Khan Mohammad, a police official.

Another bomb struck a NATO convoy in Kandahar’s Panjwayi district, killing a soldier, NATO’s press office in Kabul said. NATO did not release the dead soldier’s nationality or say how many were wounded.

Southern Afghanistan is the center of the country’s Taliban-led insurgency. More than 2,500 people – mostly militants – have died in insurgency-related violence this year in Afghanistan, according to an Associated Press tally of official figures.

In northwestern Pakistan, at least 10 Taliban died in fierce fighting between two rival militant groups, a government official and Taliban spokesman said Saturday.

Western officials are concerned the easing of Pakistani military pressure on militants has given the Taliban and al-Qaida more freedom.

The U.S. has reported a spike in cross-border attacks into Afghanistan and has offered troops to strike at terror networks.

But Pakistan’s Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani reiterated on Saturday his government’s insistence that it would not allow any foreign forces to operate against militants inside the country. He said, however, that Pakistan would continue to support the international community in the war on terror.