An American woman, believed to be a civilian, and a young Afghan girl died from their wounds after a suicide bomb attack in a busy shopping street in the Afghan capital, hospital staff said on Sunday. A Taliban suicide fighter blew himself up in the attack on Saturday afternoon. The militant group claimed responsibility for the blast and said it planned more attacks. "We had seven patients from the blast. Two deaths; a little girl and the American lady," said Ognjen Predja, logistics officer of the Emergency Hospital.
A U.S. embassy spokeswoman confirmed an American citizen died after the attack, while on Saturday, Lieutenant-Colonel Patrick Poulain, spokesman at the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) headquarters in Kabul, described her as a civilian. No other details about the woman were immediately available, though other media said she was in her early twenties and was working for a translation firm. Hospital staff said the dead Afghan girl was aged between 10 and 12. Three Icelandic troops serving with the NATO-led ISAF peacekeeping force were also wounded in the attack while patrolling in their vehicle on Chicken Street, a well-known haunt for foreigners shopping for carpets, jewellery and antiques. Poulain said on Sunday one of the soldiers was in a serious condition. Iceland has 15 troops in Afghanistan.
The attack came as election workers entered the final stages of counting in a historic presidential election that took place on Oct. 9. With an estimated 81 percent of the votes counted, incumbent President Hamid Karzai had polled 54 percent, putting him on course for the simple majority required to avoid a run-off against the second-placed candidate.
| That last actually gives me a good feeling. Either Karzai or Qanooni would make a good leader for Afghanistan — I actually suspect Qanooni would make the better one. But Karzai didn't get a one-party state-style majority, and the opposition might get the idea that if they'd only run one person against him there'd have been a real competition. The two-party idea works better than the multi-party idea. |
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