7 arrested in huge Afghan bombing

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - The governor of Afghanistan's Kandahar province says seven men have been arrested in connection with recent bombings that killed more than 100 people.

The men were arrested by local security forces in a series of operations Wednesday in Kandahar City and the Arghandab district, two of the three places where bombs exploded earlier this week.

Gov. Asadullah Khalid says in addition to the arrests, four guns and some documents were seized.

He says local civillians helped the government identify four of the suspects.

More than 100 people were killed Sunday when a suicide bomber blew up at a dog-fighting festival. Another 38 were killed Monday in the border city Spin Boldak by a suicide bomber; four Canadians were injured in that blast.

A third blast Tuesday inside Kandahar City killed at least one civillian and injured several others.

Khalid says the investigation into the blasts is continuing.

Meanwhile, Afghan and NATO-led troops killed a regional Taliban commander and his associate in southern Afghanistan and an explosion claimed the life a British soldier in a separate incident, officials said Thursday.

Joint NATO-Afghan forces killed commander Mullah Abdul Matin and Mullah Karim Agha in the southern province Helmand on Monday, the alliance said in a statement.

"As a result of this successful attack, the Taliban's networks have suffered another severe setback," said Brig.-Gen. Carlos Branco, a spokesman for NATO's International Security Assistance Force.

NATO said Matin and Agha were responsible for a number of suicide-bombing missions in Helmand, the world's largest opium-poppy producing region.

The Taliban did not immediately confirm the deaths.

Elsewhere in Helmand, an explosion killed one British soldier and wounded another Wednesday, Britain's Ministry of Defence said in a statement issued in London.

The blast hit a British patrol that was trying to disrupt Taliban activity, the ministry said, adding the cause of the explosion was not immediately known.

The death brought to 89 the number of British service members killed in Afghanistan since the troops were deployed there in 2001. The wounded soldier was treated for minor injuries, the statement said.