Taliban kill Afghan landmine clearers

Taliban gunmen have shot dead 12 people working to clear landmines in southern Helmand province, the BBC reported, citing Afghan police.

Earlier, the militant group said it was behind the killing of a senior Supreme Court official in the capital, Kabul.

Meanwhile, Nato said two of its soldiers were killed in an insurgent attack close to the main international base to the north of Kabul.

The incidents come amid an upsurge of Taliban violence as the US and Nato mission in Afghanistan nears its end.

Taliban fighters attacked the landmine-clearing operation early on Saturday, shooting 12 workers dead and injuring another 12, police spokesman Farid Ahmad Obaid told reporters.

He said Afghan soldiers later took on the militants in a gun battle, killing four and capturing three.

Earlier on Saturday, police in Kabul said Atiqullah Rawoofi, the head of the Supreme Court's secretariat, was shot dead by two men on a motorbike as he walked from his home to his car.