Five killed in roadside blasts in Afghanistan

An Afghan police officer, who had earlier survived a series of Taliban attacks, was among five people killed in different roadside bombings in the southern militant stronghold of Uruzgan.

Tor Jan, commander of several police check points in the Uruzgan province, was killed along with his bodyguard after his vehicle hit an improvised explosive device in Tairn Kot, the capital of the restive province.

In two other such incidents in the same province, three people were killed and two injured when their vehicles were targeted in roadside explosions.

Tor Jan was directly targeted by militants several times in the past and had survived several such attacks before finally succumbing to one today, officials said.

"Commander Tor Jan earlier survived more than a dozen direct attacks of the insurgents, but finally he was killed today when his car hit an IED," said Farid Ayal, spokesman of the provincial Police Chief in Uruzgan.

One of his bodyguards was also killed in the attack.

"Jan was a brave police officer. With all those earlier attacks, still he was on his duty and finally he sacrificed his life for his people and his country," added Ayal.

Taliban militants are more active in Uruzgan than anywhere else in the country and attack their targets at will.

Two local district council members and a policeman were also killed in Gizab district of Uruzgan in explosions that also left two people injured last evening, Ayal said.

He said two members of the local council with a policeman were travelling in a car that was targeted by a roadside bomb. All three were killed in the explosion.

A second car with two other local council members was targeted by another roadside bomb, leaving them injured.

Local council members are usually tribal elders who try to deal with problems of people in their districts.