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Afghan security forces are increasingly falling victim to Taliban.

17 June 2010 22:22 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Bombings and shootings have killed at least five police officers in Afghanistan amid escalating violence in the war-torn country, officials say, APA reports quoting presstv.ir website.

According to Afghan defense ministry, the policemen were killed in separate incidents in Zabul and Ghazni provinces on Thursday.

The ministry says most of the deaths occurred as the result of bombings planted by militants active in the volatile regions.

Fifteen others, including nine security personnel, were also wounded in the fatal incidents.

In one of the attacks, a car bomb targeting a police headquarters, injured three officers and three civilians in the Andar district of Ghazni province, a Press TV correspondent reported.

Ghazni Police Chief Khial Baz Sherzai says the attacker was driving a vehicle similar to the kind used by Afghan National Police.

Violence has been on the rise across Afghanistan, as US-led foreign troops are preparing to launch a large-scale offensive against the Taliban in the southern province of Kandahar.

Despite the presence of nearly 130,000 US-led soldiers in the country, civilians continue to pay the price for the 2001 invasion that aimed to dismantle the Taliban.

The US-led invasion was launched with the official objective of curbing militancy and bringing peace and stability to the war-ravaged country. Nine years on, however, Afghanistan remains unstable.