The Little Brown Reader

In a separate incident, Taliban guerrillas killed a district police chief in the southern province of Kandahar, underscoring a revival of violence recently in a country that has seen mostly strife for the past quarter-century.

The civilians died in their beds when a bomb landed on their tent in Naw Bahar district of the southern province of Zabul on Wednesday night, said deputy provincial governor Mohammad Omar.

A U.S. military spokesman said he could not immediately confirm the report.

Mohammad Gul Neyazi, a top commander of the Taliban, and another Taliban guerrilla were also killed during the attack in the remote district near the border with Pakistan, Omar said.

"The figure I have for the civilian death toll is at least eight," Omar told Reuters. "The Taliban commander and his friend were apparently using a satellite phone, the signal of which was detected by American aircraft which then carried out the attack."