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Afghanistan: Deadly suicide blast north of capital
 [ADN Kronos] Three Afghan civilians and three foreign soldiers have been killed in a suicide car bomb attack north of the capital, Kabul, according to Afghan officials. The attack took place in Kapisa province, where United States and French troops are deployed as part of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). The explosive-laden car rammed into a military convoy in Sayat district. ISAF said the nationality of the soldiers had not yet been released. Kapisa is a strategically important province, near the key Bagram air base and close to the Kabul-Jalalabad highway. Afghan officials say the district is frequently used by militants to launch attacks in the capital. The US military and an ISAF official said separately that the bomb had hit US troops. Afghan interior ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary said the target of the attack was a convoy of international forces. The civilians were just passers-by and it was not yet clear who they were, Bashary said. Five Taliban were killed in an overnight air strike by foreign forces in Ghazni province, southwest of Kabul, the provincial police chief said. International troops in Ghazni are under US command. Eight militants were killed on Monday in clashes with Afghan police and US forces in Uruzgan province in southern Afghanistan, US forces said. Three insurgents were also killed on Monday when a bomb they were planting exploded in southeastern Paktika province, the Afghan National Security Directorate said. Violence in Afghanistan is expected to worsen in the coming months as some 21,000 additional US soldiers are deployed to reinforce NATO-led troops in the south and east of the country - the stronghold of the Taliban-led insurgency. Last year was the deadliest in the conflict since US-led forces ousted the Taliban in 2001 and violence has risen to its highest-ever level in recent months. Posted by: Fred 2009-05-27 |
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