New Violence Grips Afghanistan as German Leader Visits
VOA News Saturday, December 18th, 2010 New violence raged across Afghanistan Saturday, taking the life of at least one child and a Bangladeshi engineer.
NATO officials say one child died and 11 other children were wounded in the country's southern Kandahar province when a car blew up. Afghan officials blamed the blast on a suicide bomber, and said the intended target was the district's chief.
The chief was unhurt but officials say another adult was killed.
Meanwhile, police in northern Afghanistan said one Bangladeshi engineer was killed when gunmen attacked a road construction project in Balkh province. They said at least two other workers were taken hostage.
The latest violence came as German Chancellor Angela Merkel made an unannounced trip to the country, visiting German troops in northern Kunduz province.
Ms. Merkel also met with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and General David Petraeus, the top commander of both U.S. and NATO forces
Germany has some 4,700 soldiers serving with the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan.
Ms. Merkel thanked the German troops, saying they were the first generation of Germans to take part in what she called real combat since World War Two.
The German chancellor was accompanied by German Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg.
Germany has announced it would start pulling its troops out of Afghanistan next year.
On Friday, NATO forces repelled an attach on a checkpoint in Kapisa province, killing at least five insurgents in an hours-long battle.
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