Twin bombs strike Afghan checkpoint, killing 1

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Two bombs exploded at a checkpoint outside a provincial governor's compound in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday, killing at least one police officer, an official said.

The explosions struck in the early morning in Jalalabad, the capital of Nangarhar province. The first bomb wounded a policeman, and the second was remotely detonated minutes later as police swarmed to the blast scene to secure it.

The second explosion killed one police officer and wounded at least five policemen and three civilian passers-by who were on their way to a nearby park, said Ahmad Zia Abdulzai, a spokesman for the governor

The head of the provincial health department, Dr. Baz Mohammad Shirzad, said 11 victims were taken to a local hospital where one, the police officer, died of his injuries.

At the scene later Wednesday, dried blood stained the sidewalk next to the checkpoint and the makeshift police shelter was reduced to a pile of rubble.

Abdulzai said authorities were investigating how insurgents were able to plant the bombs despite heavy security near the governor's compound.

The Taliban have been ramping up attacks on government forces lately, seeking to destabilize Afghanistan as more foreign troops prepare to draw down from the 12-year war.

Another roadside bomb in Nangarhar on Saturday ripped through a police vehicle, killing two and wounding three others.

Meanwhile, NATO said a fourth U.S. soldier died as a result of a deadly Tuesday attack on a convoy in Afghanistan's southern Kandahar province, the spiritual heartland of the Taliban.

The attack involving small arms fire and a suicide bomber in the Zhari district of Kandahar initially killed three U.S. soldiers. The fourth soldier died on Wednesday, said the NATO report.

So far this year, 58 international troops have been killed in Afghanistan, according to an Associated Press count. Of that tally, 44 are U.S. service members.

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Pakistani Taliban hit political party, killing 1

MINGORA, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistani Taliban attacked two leaders of an anti-militant political party on Sunday in northwest Pakistan, killing one and wounding another in the latest attack targeting members of secular-leaning parties ahead of next month's parliamentary election.

In the first incident, Mukarram Shah was killed in an explosion as he entered his car in the village of Banjot, said Abdullah Khan, police chief of the nearby city of Mingora. The explosives appeared to have been set off by remote control, he added.

In the other attack, a blast hit the convoy of provincial assembly candidate Masoom Shah as he was returning from a campaign meeting, police officer Zahir Khan said. He said Shah and three of his aides suffered wounds from the roadside bomb.

Both men belong to the secular Awami National Party, which supported military operations against militants in the region.

The ANP is one of three secular-leaning political parties that the Pakistani Taliban have threatened to attack during campaigns for the May 11 parliamentary elections. The other two parties are the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM).

In a video message, the Taliban warned people to stay away from rallies held by the three political parties they consider their enemies.

The three dominated Pakistan's last government, which was dissolved in preparation for the elections. The ANP also headed the government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the main province of the northwest, a stronghold of the Taliban.

The latest two assaults follow three similar attacks since the Taliban issued their threat several weeks ago. Two ANP candidates survived bomb attacks in the northwest, and a Taliban shooter killed an MQM candidate in the southern city of Hyderabad.

Pakistani Taliban spokesman Ahsanullah Ahsan claimed responsibility for both bomb attacks. "The three parties are on our hit list," he told The Associated Press by telephone from an undisclosed location.

Right-leaning and religious parties not being targeted by the Taliban have been holding their election campaign rallies without fear.

Pakistani Taliban and most of its leadership are believed to be based in North Waziristan after having fled military operations in their sanctuaries in various tribal regions. North Waziristan is also home to various Afghan militant and foreign al-Qaida linked groups.

Despite pressure from the U.S., the Pakistani military has not launched any major offensive in the region and Washington relies mostly on drone strikes to battle militants.

One such strike on Sunday targeted a house, killing four people in Datta Khel town in the tribal area, said two Pakistani intelligence officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

They said two foreign militants believed to have been residing in the house were among those killed.

Also on Sunday, gunmen attacked a NATO supply convoy in the Khyber tribal region, killing a truck driver and wounding another, said a local government administrator Iqbal Khan. The Khyber Pass is one of the two main routes in Pakistan for NATO supplies headed to neighboring Afghanistan.

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AP Writers Rasool Dawar and Riaz Khan in Peshawar contributed to this report.

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NATO: F-16 crashes in Afghanistan, killing pilot

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — NATO says an American F-16 fighter jet has crashed in eastern Afghanistan, killing the U.S. pilot.

NATO said in a statement Thursday that the cause of Wednesday's crash is still being investigated, but initial reporting indicates that there was "no insurgent activity in the area" when the plane went down.

The U.S.-led military coalition did not disclose where the plane crashed.

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Taliban attack Afghan courthouse, killing 21

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A provincial police chief says an hours-long standoff with Taliban gunmen has ended in western Afghanistan, leaving 21 civilians and nine attackers dead.

Agha Noor Kemtoz says the attackers stormed the courthouse and attorney general's office Wednesday in a bid to free Taliban prisoners who were about to face trial in Farah province, a volatile area near the Iranian border.

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Bus falls off bridge in India, killing at least 37

NEW DELHI (AP) — A bus packed with passengers crashed through a guard rail and fell off a bridge in western India early Tuesday, killing at least 37 people and injuring another 15, police said.

The overnight bus was carrying passengers from the beach resort state of Goa to Mumbai when it crashed in Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra, said Mahendra Singh Pardeshi, a police official present at the site. The area is about 200 kilometers (125 miles) south of Mumbai.

The cause of the accident was not immediately clear.

The driver was among those injured in the pre-dawn accident.

The bus had a capacity of 55 passengers, but Pardeshi said it was not known how many people were on board.

Early, blurred video if the accident showed that the bus broke through the guard rail on the bridge and fell several meters to the bank of the Jagbudi River below.

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