|
Suicide bomber kills seven Afghans at NATO base
 A suicide bomb attack outside a NATO base killed seven civilians in southeastern Afghanistan on Wednesday, a local official said. Twenty-one civilians were wounded in Wednesday's attack by a suicide bomber in a car packed with explosives. An official from the province of the same name said all the victims were labourers working at the NATO base on the outskirts of Khost.
| I think the rule has become: suicide bombers kill civilians, airstrikes kill Talliban and their unwilling human shields... unless the Taliban kill their shields first to inflate things. |
There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties among NATO-led troops. In a separate incident overnight, US forces said they had accidentally killed two human shields civilians and wounded four with airstrikes and artillery fire launched against fighters who fired rockets at bases in southeastern Paktika province. Six insurgents were killed in the strikes, they said.
Contact: Ex-Taliban officials now acting as intermediaries, have contacted Taliban leader Mullah Muhammad Omar and other senior militants in a bid to set up peace talks with the Afghan government, a member of the team said on Wednesday.
"We are not talking to junior people, certainly, but with the leadership council, Mullah Sahib and Hekmatyar," said Arsala Rahmani. The mediators are pushing the government to provide asylum
| Asylum? From who, the American Predators? |
for members of the Taliban and other armed opposition groups as part of an effort to pave the ground for future peace talks, he said. Since starting the initiative, the team has held discussions with Karzai, the western powers who have troops in Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah,
| The Saudi king? Whatever for? |
| You always keep the finance guys in the loop ... |
as well as with the militant leaders, Rahmani said.
Posted by: Fred 2009-05-14 |
