US general: deal with tribe in Taliban bastion

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- The senior U.S. Marine general in Afghanistan says the leaders of the largest tribe in a Taliban stronghold in the southern Helmand province have pledged to halt insurgent attacks and expel foreign fighters.

Marine Maj. Gen. Richard Mills, who commands coalition forces in the southwest, said Monday the deal was struck between local elders in the violent Sangin district, coalition forces, and Helmand Governor Gulabuddin Mangal.

The area has witnessed some of the heaviest fighting of the war. But the agreement is likely to meet strong resistance from die-hard Taliban.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - Gunmen opened fire in a mosque northwest of the Afghan capital, killing four civilians, while a fifth was killed in a bombing outside a butcher's shop in the western part of the country, officials said Monday.

The shop in Herat supplies meat to the Afghan army, and officials think the bomb targeted security forces, said Noor Khan Nekzad, the spokesman for Herat province's police chief. At least four other civilians were wounded in the explosion, Nekzad said.

A day earlier, gunmen entered a mosque in Baghlan province's Markazi district, killing four civilians and wounding two, the provincial governor's office said Monday. Officials said they did not know why the mosque was targeted. Past mosque attacks have targeted government officials.

The attacks were a sobering reminder that the war against the Taliban, approaching the start of its 10 year, is far from won.

Insurgents have expanded their operations beyond their traditional strongholds in southern Afghanistan to areas that were previously relatively calm, even as NATO forces and their Afghan counterparts carry out daily operations against the Taliban.

The international coalition confirmed Monday that it had detained an insurgent linked with the Haqqani network, a feared al-Qaida-linked militant group that operates out of neighboring Pakistan. NATO said the insurgent, who it claimed was involved in bombings against Afghan and coalition forces in the eastern Khost province, was detained on Saturday.

Coalition and Afghan forces also captured three Taliban leaders in operations around the country, NATO said.

NATO has said it is making progress in the country. But officials caution that the gains are reversible and that more needs to be done to stabilize Afghanistan amid an amalgam of security woes, poverty and complaints of rife corruption.