British soldier killed, three hurt in Afghanistan

The officer was killed when his vehicle hit a freshly planted mine in Sori district of southern Zabul province.

A mine blast killed a local police commander, as an ambush by suspected insurgents left a spiritual leader wounded in southern Afghanistan, officials said on Saturday.

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The officer was killed when his vehicle hit a freshly planted mine in Sori district of southern Zabul province on Friday, said Noor Mohammad Paktin, the provincial police chief.

Separately, suspected Taliban militants wounded Mrich Agha, a spiritual leader in the southern Kandahar province on Saturday, said Dawood Ahmadi, the governor's spokesman.

Agha's driver was killed in the ambush, which occurred on the main Kandahar-Herat highway, Ahmadi said. He blamed the attack on the resurgent Taliban militants.

Afghanistan's southern province is bearing the brunt of the worst bout of violence to have rocked the country since the fall of the Taliban regime in the US-led invasion in late 2001.