Saturday, June 13, 2009 KABUL: A British soldier was among three-dozen people killed in a surge of attacks in Afghanistan, authorities said Friday, with violence at record levels two months ahead of presidential elections. The new bloodshed was announced as General David Petraeus, commander of US forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, warned Thursday of more "tough months" ahead in the battle against extremist insurgents here. Six Afghan policemen were killed on Friday in separate bomb blasts in the eastern province of Paktika and in the southern city of Kandahar, authorities said. Several people were also wounded in the attacks. Another bomb blast killed a British soldier, serving in NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), near Kandahar city on Thursday, the British defence ministry said.ISAF announced meanwhile that four Afghan civilians were killed Thursday in a traffic accident involving one of its vehicles in the northeastern province of Kunar. Two more civilians were killed in the same province Thursday by ISAF mortar rounds fired against insurgents, it said. Also Thursday insurgents attacked a police post in southern Helmand province, kicking off heavy fighting, the interior ministry said. A dozen "enemies of peace" were killed, including two commanders, its statement said.Taliban insurgents also attacked an patrol of Italian ISAF troops and Afghan security forces in southwestern Farah province Thursday, the provincial governor said. Two Afghan soldiers were killed and two wounded, governor Rohul Amin Amin said. Three Italian soldiers were also hurt.
Friday, August 14, 2009 MUMBAI: A 26-year-old woman died Thursday of H1N1 swine flu in the southern city of Bangalore, raising India's death toll from the virus to 20, authorities said.The death was the first reported in India's information technology capital, the Press Trust of India reported.Meanwhile in Pune, the worst-affected in India, two more victims of the virus died Thursday, raising the death toll in that western city near Mumbai to 12, the report said. The victims were an 11-month-old boy and a 75-year-old old woman.US media reported movie halls, schools and colleges were ordered closed Thursday for three days to a week in Mumbai, the commercial and financial capital of the country, as fear of the pandemic spread.Prajakata Lavangare, a spokeswoman for the government of Maharashtra state of which Mumbai is the capital, said similar orders were issued in Pune, which is also located in the state.The woman who died in Bangalore was identified only as Roopa, a teacher in...
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