Pre-mature explosion kills militant, Afghan police

KABUL, Oct. 22 (Xinhua) -- A Taliban militant and one police constable were killed in Taliban birthplace Kandahar in south Afghanistan as a mine went off prematurely, provincial police chief Sardar Mohammad Zazi said Thursday.

"Some Taliban militants were busy in planting a mine on a road in 9th precinct of Kandahar city late Wednesday night but police patrol raided them and the mine exploded prematurely killing an insurgent and a police constable on the spot," Mohammad Zazi told Xinhua.

He also added that two more Taliban fighters and one policeman got wounded in the explosion.

A roadside bomb on the same day in the neighboring Zabul province claimed the lives of two civilians and wounded nine others including two Afghan soldiers.

Taliban militants fighting Afghan and the NATO-led forces have adopted suicide and roadside bombings as new military tactic which often claim civilian lives.