Afghan Taliban attacks kill 30 in five days

Nearly 30 people have been killed in Afghanistan in the past five days as the Afghan Taliban intensified its offensive across the war-torn country, Xinhua reported Thursday.

Early Thursday morning, two armed militants were killed and three civilians were wounded in an attack on a mosque in the national capital Kabul.

"Two terrorists armed with two AK-47 guns, two pistols, two knives and ammunition entered Imam Hassan-e-Mujtaba mosque in western Kabul. They opened indiscriminate fire on people who were offering their morning prayers, injuring three people," the National Security Directorate (NDS), the country's intelligence agency, said in a statement.

The attackers, who were Pakistani nationals, wore police uniform to disguise themselves during the attack, the NDS said.

Eight civilians, including six women, were wounded when a Taliban mortar round hit a house near an army base in Maiwand district of Kandahar province late Wednesday night, the provincial government said in a statement.

Also Wednesday night, four policemen were killed in a Taliban attack on a police checkpoint in Shindand district of Herat province.

In eastern Paktiya province, a tribal leader named Muqbil Fazli was shot dead Wednesday.

In Ghazni province, the militants broke into the house of a local leader, Noor-ul-Haq Aghondzada, killing him and his two sons Tuesday night.

Also Tuesday, judge Sayed Ahmad Khaliqi was shot dead in a drive-by shooting in Herat city, capital of Herat province.

Four policemen were killed when an improvised explosive device (IED) targeted vehicle of the governor of Badakhshan province.

Afghan security forces Monday arrested a would-be Taliban suicide bomber in Kunar province, foiling an attack on a congested bazaar there.

More than 40 trucks and oil tankers were destroyed and two heavy armed militants were killed when Taliban launched a coordinated attack at a parking lot near a military base in eastern Nangarhar province Monday morning.

Earlier, seven bullet-riddled bodies were found in Ghazni. The victims were said to be members of security forces kidnapped by militants along a main road in the province.

Workers of a local mine company were killed Sunday when their vehicle touched off an IED in relatively peaceful eastern Parwan province.

Local analysts fear that the Taliban would launch more attacks across the country as Afghan army and police take the lead in combat operations and most of the foreign forces are due to withdraw from Afghanistan by the end of next year.