US troops kill several militants in eastern Afghanistan

A counternarcotics policeman walks near an area inside the base where a rocket-propelled grenade accidentally exploded in Kabul, Afghanistan on Monday May 5, 2008. A policeman dropped a rocket-propelled grenade that exploded as his unit set off from Kabul on Monday on an opium poppy eradication mission north of the city, said Interior Ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary. (AP Photo/Musadeq Sadeq)

KABUL, Afghanistan—U.S.-led coalition troops killed several militants during a raid in eastern Afghanistan, while a roadside bomb in the south wounded five people, including three policemen, officials said Tuesday.

The coalition troops killed the militants during a raid Monday on several compounds in the Achin district of Nangarhar province, a coalition statement said.

During the raid troops also detained a militant suspected of involvement in helping foreign fighters and conducting bomb attacks in the region, the statement said.

The coalition did not provide the exact numbers of militants killed.

Over 1,200 people -- mostly militants -- have died in insurgency-related violence so far this year, according to a count by The Associated Press.

In southern Afghanistan, which is the center of the Taliban-led insurgency, a bomb placed on a bicycle just outside the city of Kandahar hit a car carrying policemen Tuesday, wounding three officers and two women, said provincial police official Mohammad Shoaib.

The officers worked at a police training academy, Shoaib said.

Insurgents often target police, who are more vulnerable and exposed than the better-trained and equipped Afghan national army. Over 920 police officers were killed by militants in 2007.

------

Associated Press reporter Noor Khan in Kandahar contributed to this report.