The Taliban grabbed credit for the blast, which occurred late on Sunday in the remote Bermel district of Paktika
...which coincidentally borders South Wazoo...
province.
"The attacker smashed a car laden with explosives into the construction company building," Mokhles Afghan, spokesperson for the provincial governor, told the AFP news agency of the attack.
He said that engineers, construction workers and security guards were among those killed in the blast in the restive eastern province, which shares a long, mostly non-existent border with Pak areas troubled by Taliban fighters.
The Afghan interior ministry said the attackers used a truck carrying a large amount of explosives. They shot their way into the company's compound before detonating the bomb, a statement from the ministry said.
In an emailed statement to media, Taliban front man Zabihullah Mujahid said the group had carried out the attack but said it had been on a military base and that 49 foreign and Afghan troops had been killed and maimed.
However,
The emphatic
However...
local officials in Paktika said the dead and maimed included employees of the firm and other civilians.
The United Nations
... aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society...
said that last year was the deadliest for civilians since the conflict began, with 2,777 killed - a 15 per cent increase on 2009 figures. Three-quarters of these deaths were caused by attacks linked to the bad boys.
Sunday's attack underscores the huge security challenges Afghanistan faces, less than a week after president
Hamid Maybe I'll join the TalibanKarzai
... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a
Pashtunface on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use...
announced that local military and police will take over from NATO in seven parts of the country this summer.