Afghan official says 4 Afghan police officers killed by roadside bomb in western Afghanistan

Afghan official: Bomb kills 4 Afghan policemen

KABUL — Four Afghan police officers were killed by a roadside bomb in western Afghanistan, the latest in a string of deadly attacks against the country’s embattled police force, government officials said Wednesday.

The policemen were killed after their car was hit by a roadside bomb Tuesday night in Rubat-i-Sangin district, north of the city of Herat, according to the Afghan Ministry of Interior.

Noor Khan Nekzad, a spokesman for the police chief in Herat province, said the patrol vehicle was destroyed by the blast.

According to the Afghan Defense Ministry, militants planned or carried out 6,787 bombings and suicide attacks in the country so far this year. Of those attacks, 3,170 took place, while 3,617 bombs had been defused before they were detonated.

Separately, Afghan and international security forces detained Taliban militants Wednesday in Wardak and Kandahar provinces, NATO said.

In Wardak in central-east Afghanistan, two Taliban commanders and another suspected militant were detained near the village of Bhardokheyl where intelligence sources reported enemy activity.

In western Kandahar, the joint force searched a compound in the Zhari district and detained militants and a Taliban commander, who is believed responsible for a number of roadside bomb attacks in the area. In the Arghandab district of central Kandahar province, a security forced detained more militants and a Taliban commander suspected of having connections to other insurgent groups.

No shots were fired and no one was injured in the operations.

Also Wednesday, the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, Karl Eikenberry, signed an agreement with Yasouf Nuristani, the governor of Herat province, to lease a hotel to be used as a new U.S. consulate in western Afghanistan. The embassy said the new consulate is expected to open next year and will be in the newly leased property until the U.S. can build quarters of its own.