Afghan police said Taliban militants have shot dead at least 12 workers clearing mines in the southern Helmand Province on December 13.

Farid Ahmad Obaid, a spokesman for the provincial police chief, said the attack happened near the former British military base of Camp Bastion.

Obaid said Afghan soldiers were now fighting the Taliban who attacked the workers. He said Afghan troops killed four militants and captured three others.

The attack in Helmand comes hours after a senior Supreme Court official and two NATO troops were killed in separate attacks, both claimed by the Taliban.

Police said Atiqullah Rawoofi, the head of the secretariat of the Afghan Supreme Court, was killed in the morning on December 13 near his home in Kabul's northwestern neighborhoods.

Police said no one has been detained so far in connection with the killing.

In a separate incident, an insurgent attack targeted a military convoy near the Bagram air base in Parwan Province, north of Kabul, killing two foreign troops late on November 12.

NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said in a statement on December 13 that two service members "have died as a result of an enemy forces attack in eastern Afghanistan."

The Taliban claimed both attacks in text messages to journalists.

Taliban militants have intensified their attacks in and around the Afghan capital just weeks ahead of the withdrawal of most foreign troops by the end of the year.

A teenage Taliban suicide bomber targeted a French-funded school on December 11, killing a German citizen and wounding several others during a play condemning the violence.

Hours earlier, another suicide bomber targeted a bus carrying Afghan troops in suburbs of the capital, killing six soldiers.

Amid the continuing violence in Afghanistan, the UN Security Council on December 12 a text welcoming an agreement between NATO and Afghanistan to set up a noncombat Resolute Support Mission from January 1 that will reduce NATO's role to training, assistance and advisory capacity.

The council also welcomed the international community's willingness to continue supporting Afghanistan as the ISAF mission ends on December 31 after a 13-year military engagement.

Some 12,500 foreign soldiers are set to stay in Afghanistan for the Resolute Support Mission. The coalition will not lead any combat operations, but they will respond to attacks.

Based on reporting by AP, Reuters, AFP, and tolonews.com

Copyright (c) 2014. RFE/RL, Inc. Republished with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036