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| Afghanistan/South Asia |
| Taliban, al-Qaeda claim Kabul bombing |
| 2004-08-30 |
| As if there was much doubt ... A statement purported to be from al-Qaeda claimed responsibility today for a truck bomb which killed seven people, including two US citizens, in Kabul, and which was earlier claimed by the Taliban militia. "The mujahedeen (Islamic fighters) were able to plant a bomb in a car which was detonated by remote control outside the US centre, killing at least six Americans and three Afghan collaborators," said the statement signed by "al-Qaeda organisation, Afghanistan", and posted on an Islamist website. "This operation was carried out with the help of our mujahideen brothers from the Taliban and it will not be the last. It will be followed by more powerful operations, God willing," it said. The statement, whose authenticity could not be independently confirmed, came after the Taliban claimed responsibility for the blast in a satellite phone call to AFP from an undisclosed location, saying the bomber had escaped unharmed. US military spokesman Scott Nelson told AFP in Kabul that NATO-led peacekeepers had detained one Afghan national in connection with the bombing. A truck loaded with construction wood and packed with explosives detonated just before 6 pm today (0030 AEST Monday) outside the Kabul office of US security contractor DynCorp, which provides bodyguards for President Hamid Karzai and trains Afghanistan's fledgling police force. "Two Americans, three Nepalese and two Afghan nationals, including a child, have been confirmed dead," a statement from Karzai's office said. The blast occurred just three days after the Taliban, in a statement posted on their website, threatened to kill US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and vowed "a flood of jihad (holy war) ... against the Americans and their allies in Pakistan and Afghanistan." |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |