LASHKAR GAH, Afghanistan (AP) -- A suicide bomber struck outside the
compound of a southern Afghan provincial governor on Tuesday, killing 18
people, including several Muslim pilgrims seeking paperwork to travel to
Mecca, officials said.
The attacker was stopped by Afghan soldiers at the compound's security
gate, where he detonated his explosives vest, said Ghulam Muhiddin,
spokesman for the Helmand provincial governor.
The bomber had been walking toward a vehicle of the private military
contractors who provide security for the governor, said Squadron Leader
Jason Chalk, a NATO spokesman.
Nine Afghan soldiers and nine civilians were killed, said Rahmatullah
Mohammdi, director of the hospital in Lashkar Gah. Seventeen people were
wounded, he said.
The governor, Mohammed Daoud Safi, was inside the compound and was not
injured in the attack.
Among the civilians waiting outside the compound were Afghan pilgrims
seeking permission to travel to Mecca in Saudi Arabia, Muhiddin said.
The main mosque in Lashkar Gah sits across from the compound.
Qari Yousaf Ahmadi, who claims to be a spokesman for Taliban affairs in
southern Afghanistan, contacted The Associated Press and said the
militant group was responsible for the attack. Ahmadi's exact ties to
the militants are not known.
Militants have stepped up attacks in southern Afghanistan in recent
months, including the use of roadside and suicide bombs. Twenty-one
people died in Lashkar Gah in late August when a suicide bomber tried to
kill an ex-police chief, and last week militants killed 19 construction
workers riding on a bus in neighboring Kandahar province.
Meanwhile, a bomb attack against a NATO patrol just south of the Afghan
capital killed an Italian soldier and a child, officials said.
A remote-control bomb planted under a bridge detonated when a
three-vehicle military convoy passed by, said Ali Shah Paktiawal, Kabul
police criminal director.
Chief Corp. Maj. Giorgio Langella was killed in the blast, and five
Italian soldiers were wounded, the Italian Defense Ministry said in Rome.
A child riding in a car behind the NATO convoy was killed, NATO said.
Four other civilians in the car were wounded.
Two people were detained for questioning in the blast, which went off
about 10 kilometers (five miles) south of Kabul, police said.
The bloodied body of the slain soldier, with his bulletproof vest still
on, lay on the ground alongside his weapon shortly after the blast,
according to an AP reporter at the scene.
Six Italian troops carried the victim's body to a military helicopter
that landed near the blast site. Other helicopters hovered overhead as
police and Italian troops cordoned off the area.
Italy has some 1,600 troops in the 20,000-strong NATO-led force in
Afghanistan.
An Italian soldier died and two were injured on Sept. 20 when their
armored vehicle overturned on a steep incline near Kabul. Four Italian
soldiers were wounded Sept. 8 by a roadside bomb in the western Farah
province.
Taliban-linked militants have stepped up their attacks across
Afghanistan the last several months, though attacks in Kabul are still
much rarer than in the country's south.
Attacks in the capital are mostly aimed at foreign military troops. On
Sept. 8, a suicide car bomber rammed into a U.S. Humvee, killing 16
people, including two U.S. soldiers. The attack was Kabul's deadliest
since the 2001 toppling of the Taliban.
In eastern Paktika province, seven armed men died when an explosives
vest one of them was carrying detonated in the Yousef Kheil district on
Monday, said Gov. Mohammad Akram Akhpelwak. There were no other casualties.
A suicide bomber on foot killed himself Tuesday while trying to attack a
vehicle carrying security workers traveling to the border in Khost
province, in eastern Afghanistan, said Gen. Mohammad Ayub, the
provincial police chief. No one else was injured in the blast, he said.
moslem cartoon character muhammad was a child molester and goat fucker
"Mirelle" <labelle...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:efb0nr$v3j$1...@news.yaako.com...
Gee, let's connect a few of the dots ... Islamic Country .... guy blending
in with crowds ... suicide bomber ... yep. If it looks like a duck and
quacks like a duck, you can bet it's a duck.
Not after detonation.
Rifty
--
Academic and Computing Help
http://rifty.net
LOL! Good one!
"Arash" <Ar...@lycos.com> wrote in message news:1c920$451c9da5$d8fea4c2$23...@PRIMUS.CA...