Nine Rebels, Soldier Killed in Afghanistan
'Pakistan Times' Wire Service

PAKTIA: An Afghan soldier and nine militants were killed and 11 people, including nine foreign troops, wounded in fresh violence across Afghanistan, officials said Monday.

Six Taliban rebels were killed in a gunfight with Afghan and NATO-led troops in the eastern province of Paktia Monday, provincial police chief Abdul Rahman Sarjang said.

Eighteen more were detained over suspected links to the Taliban following the incident, Sarjang said.

The men were picked up from villages where the fighting took place, he said.

Three more "enemies of peace and stability" were killed late Sunday when a bomb they were planting exploded in the eastern province of Laghman, adjoining Kabul.

Separately, a soldier with the US-led coalition and an Afghan interpreter were wounded when their vehicle struck a roadside bomb in the neighbouring province of Khost Monday, a spokesman with the separate NATO-led force said.●