A U.S.-led coalition soldier and 10 suspected Taliban militants died in the latest clashes to roil southern and eastern Afghanistan, while security was tightened in Kabul after a series of bombings, officials said Thursday.
The attacks have raised fears that Taliban militants are bringing their fight to the capital, nearly five years after their ouster in a U.S.-backed military campaign.
In eastern Afghanistan, militants opened fire on a coalition patrol in Paktika’s Gayan district, killing one soldier. A 10-year old girl was also wounded in Wednesday’s firefight and was in stable condition, a coalition statement said.
The statement did not identify the dead soldier or give a nationality.
President Hamid Karzai vowed that bombings targeting government officials and army officers in Kabul on Tuesday and Wednesday, killing one person and wounding about 60, wouldn’t shake Afghans’ hopes for peace.
