Taliban bombs Afghan army
September 30, 2005
KABUL: US-led forces in Afghanistan suffered their worst ever suicide bombing yesterday when a man dressed in an army uniform rammed an explosives-packed motorcycle into a convoy of buses carrying Afghan army officers.
At least 12 people were killed and 39 wounded in the attack in the capital, Kabul.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack at the Kabul Military Training Centre, set up by US forces to train a new national army, and said more violence could be expected.
The attack came as the Interior Ministry announced the discovery in the eastern province of Paktika of a mass grave containing the bodies of 530 soldiers of the communist regime that was toppled in 1992.
Yesterday's bombing was the bloodiest of several suicide attacks in Kabul since US-led forces overthrew the Taliban in late 2001 and came just 10days after landmark parliamentary elections, which passed relatively peacefully despite militant threats.
Taliban spokesman Abdul Latif Hakimi named the bomber as Kabul resident Sardar Mohammad.
"More mujaheddin suicide heroes are ready to follow his way and you will witness them doing it in the future," he said by satellite phone from an undisclosed location.
An Afghan intelligence official said at least 12 people died, most of them army officers, but he did not know if this figure included the bomber. The officer, who did not want to be identified, said some of the wounded were in critical condition.
Four minibuses that had been carrying soldiers were burned in the attack in the car park of the training centre.
Witness Mohammad Gul, 32, said he saw a motorcyclist ride into the car park.
"Suddenly there was a huge explosion. It was deafening and I still can't hear properly," he said.
The training centre is opposite a base of NATO-led International Security Assistance Force peacekeepers, who rushed teams to help treat and evacuate casualties.
"It was horrible," said another witness. "There was a huge blast. The vehicles caught fire - I don't know how many - and the soldiers were rushing into the wreckage to pull people out. I was terrified. I just ran away."
Kabul has had several suicide attacks on foreign peacekeepers and civilians since the Taliban's overthrow.
This year the country has sustained a surge in militant violence in the troubled south and east, where guerrillas and their allies are most active. More than 1000 people, most of them insurgents, have died in the bloodiest period since US-led forces drove out the Taliban for refusing to give up al-Qa'ida leader Osama bin Laden, the terror leader behind the September 11 attacks in the US.
Although the Taliban failed in their vow to derail the September 18 elections for a national assembly and provincial councils, violence has picked up since the vote.
Yesterday, three people were killed and five wounded in a mine blast in the eastern province of Kunar, and on Tuesday a Bangladeshi UN worker was critically hurt by a roadside bomb in adjacent Nangarhar province.
The Taliban also claimed responsibility for killing a parliamentary candidate in the northern province of Balkh yesterday, although guerilla involvement could not be verified.
A US soldier and a US marine were killed in militant attacks on Monday, a day after a US helicopter crashed on an anti-militant operation, killing all five crewmen. Reuters
Link Here
KABUL: US-led forces in Afghanistan suffered their worst ever suicide bombing yesterday when a man dressed in an army uniform rammed an explosives-packed motorcycle into a convoy of buses carrying Afghan army officers.
At least 12 people were killed and 39 wounded in the attack in the capital, Kabul.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack at the Kabul Military Training Centre, set up by US forces to train a new national army, and said more violence could be expected.
The attack came as the Interior Ministry announced the discovery in the eastern province of Paktika of a mass grave containing the bodies of 530 soldiers of the communist regime that was toppled in 1992.
Yesterday's bombing was the bloodiest of several suicide attacks in Kabul since US-led forces overthrew the Taliban in late 2001 and came just 10days after landmark parliamentary elections, which passed relatively peacefully despite militant threats.
Taliban spokesman Abdul Latif Hakimi named the bomber as Kabul resident Sardar Mohammad.
"More mujaheddin suicide heroes are ready to follow his way and you will witness them doing it in the future," he said by satellite phone from an undisclosed location.
An Afghan intelligence official said at least 12 people died, most of them army officers, but he did not know if this figure included the bomber. The officer, who did not want to be identified, said some of the wounded were in critical condition.
Four minibuses that had been carrying soldiers were burned in the attack in the car park of the training centre.
Witness Mohammad Gul, 32, said he saw a motorcyclist ride into the car park.
"Suddenly there was a huge explosion. It was deafening and I still can't hear properly," he said.
The training centre is opposite a base of NATO-led International Security Assistance Force peacekeepers, who rushed teams to help treat and evacuate casualties.
"It was horrible," said another witness. "There was a huge blast. The vehicles caught fire - I don't know how many - and the soldiers were rushing into the wreckage to pull people out. I was terrified. I just ran away."
Kabul has had several suicide attacks on foreign peacekeepers and civilians since the Taliban's overthrow.
This year the country has sustained a surge in militant violence in the troubled south and east, where guerrillas and their allies are most active. More than 1000 people, most of them insurgents, have died in the bloodiest period since US-led forces drove out the Taliban for refusing to give up al-Qa'ida leader Osama bin Laden, the terror leader behind the September 11 attacks in the US.
Although the Taliban failed in their vow to derail the September 18 elections for a national assembly and provincial councils, violence has picked up since the vote.
Yesterday, three people were killed and five wounded in a mine blast in the eastern province of Kunar, and on Tuesday a Bangladeshi UN worker was critically hurt by a roadside bomb in adjacent Nangarhar province.
The Taliban also claimed responsibility for killing a parliamentary candidate in the northern province of Balkh yesterday, although guerilla involvement could not be verified.
A US soldier and a US marine were killed in militant attacks on Monday, a day after a US helicopter crashed on an anti-militant operation, killing all five crewmen. Reuters
Link Here
posted by Kangaroo Brisbane Australia at 5:50 AM
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