Kabul: A remote-controlled bomb targeting a police convoy killed 12 people on Monday in western Afghanistan, a day after three American soldiers died in a complex militant ambush in the country's east.
The bomb blast occurred in the city of Herat. Ten civilians and two police officers were killed, said a spokesman for the Herat Provincial Police Chief, Noor Khan Nekzad. About 20 people were wounded, he added.
Sunday's attack on the soldiers raised NATO's two-day August death toll to nine, continuing the bloodiest period of the eight-year war for US and allied troops.
The UN's representative in Afghanistan called for peace talks with the Taliban's top leadership, saying deals with local militant commanders as proposed by Britain's Foreign Secretary would not be enough to end the violence.
Kai Eide's call is another indication that parts of the international community favour reaching out to the top echelons of the radical Islamist movement in their attempts to bring peace, as the conflict widens and Western public opinion wavers in the face of rising death tolls.
Militants in eastern Afghanistan killed three US troops with gunfire after attacking their convoy with a roadside bomb, the US Military said.
Six NATO troops also died on Saturday. Six of the nine deaths this month were American. July was the deadliest month for foreign troops since the 2001 invasion to oust the Taliban for sheltering al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, with 74 foreign troops, including 43 Americans, killed.
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