KABUL (TIP): Twelve people, including 10 militants, were killed in separate incidents of violence in Afghanistan on May 29, authorities said. In one attack, a district intelligence chief was killed while three intelligence officials were wounded when a roadside bomb struck a vehicle in Aqcha district of northern Jawzjan province at noon, provincial police chief Faqir Mohammad Jawzjani told Xinhua.

Separately, police official Abdul Matin and a colleague were injured when a sticky bomb attached to a police jeep went off in Maehtarlam, the capital city of eastern Laghman province before noon. In northern Kunduz province, an Afghan Local Police (ALP) officer was killed and three ALP personnel were wounded when Taliban launched an attack in Ali Abad district around midday.

The ALP, or community police, was established in 2010 to protect villages and districts around the country where army and police have limited presence. In the neighbouring Dashti Archi district, one Taliban fighter was killed and six other militants were injured in an exchange of fire with security forces earlier Thursday. The Taliban-led insurgency has been rampant since the militant group launched an annual rebel offensive against security forces and more than 51,000 Nato-led troops stationed in the country earlier this month.

In southern Helmand province, a known Taliban stronghold, nine Taliban insurgents were killed when the roadside bombs they were planting exploded in three separate incidents Thursday morning, according to army spokesman Mohammad Rassoul Zazai. The Taliban have urged civilians to stay away from official gatherings, military convoys and centres regarded as legitimate targets by militants besides warning people not to support government and foreign troops.