Militants in Afghanistan killed seven people in bombing and shooting attacks Sunday, the first day of the Taliban's announced spring offensive, government officials said. In a statement released Saturday, the insurgent movement announced it would step up operations against military bases, convoys and Afghan officials, including members of the peace council working to reconcile with top insurgent leaders.
In the deadliest of Sunday's attacks, a man wearing a vest packed with explosives blew himself up in a bazaar in the Barmal district of the eastern Paktika province on the border with Pakistan, killing four civilians and wounding 12, said Mokhlis Afghan, a spokesman for the provincial governor's office.
Sher Nawaz, the head of a new district council in the Shakeen area of Paktika province, was among the dead and was likely the target of the attack, Afghan said.
In the south-west province of Ghazni, a gunman opened fire on a checkpoint, killing two policemen and wounding a bystander during an hour-long battle, provincial police chief Zerawar Zahid said.
In a separate attack in Ghazni, militants detonated a bicycle rigged with explosives outside the provincial police headquarters complex, wounding 13 civilians, according to provincial officials.
The wounded included an 11-year-old girl and two young boys. They had light shrapnel wounds, said Dr Mohammad Ismail Ibrahimzai, head of the Ghazni Provincial Hospital.
In the country's south, a suspected militant shot and killed an Afghan soldier at a checkpoint in Kandahar city, said deputy police chief Shershah Yousafzai.
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