2 Afghan Police, 1 Soldier Killed in W. Afghanistan

At least 2 Afghan police and 1 soldier were killed Thursday morning in a road-side mine blast in the western Herat province

The incident happened this morning when the Afghan police forces soldiers were conducting joint operations in a village in the province, Noor Khan Mirzad, a spokesman for the Police Chief of Herat told TOLOnews reporter.

A road-side mine planted by Taliban insurgents suddenly exploded killing a soldier and two policemen, he added.

Roadside mines are planted by insurgents to target Afghan and coalition forces, in which civilians are the main victims.

The Afghan police says that a Taliban commander has been killed and 10 other militants have been wounded in the operations, but no further details are released on the incident so far.

Afghan and coalition forces have escalated their counter-insurgency operations to clear the country's volatile regions of insurgents and maintain security ahead of the upcoming parliamentary elections.

More than 1,000 polling centres for the Afghan parliamentary elections scheduled to be held on September 18, have been closed for security reasons so far.