3 US troops killed in Afghan suicide blast
Pastor Dale Morgan
3 US troops killed in Afghan suicide blast*
By AMIR SHAH and FISNIK ABRASHI
The Associated Press
Tuesday, May 26, 2009 3:07 PM
PUL-E-SAYAD, Afghanistan -- Shortly before he rammed his vehicle into an
American military convoy, the young bearded suicide bomber waved at
Sayed Najibullah to move away. As Najibullah sped off a huge explosion
ripped through a U.S. armored vehicle, killing three American troops and
three Afghan civilians.
But Najibullah lived to tell the story.
Tuesday's attack in the northern Kapisa province, which is a stronghold
of insurgents loyal to the Afghan warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar north of
Kabul, follows warnings from American military officials that more
suicide attacks and roadside bombings can be expected as thousands of
new U.S. troops join the fight this year.
Such attacks were up 25 percent in the first four months of 2009
compared with the same period last year.
The 22-year-old Najibullah was riding a motorbike on a tree-lined
village road just outside the bazaar in Pul-e-Sayad when he saw the
suicide attacker in a white Toyota Corolla speeding in the opposite
direction.
"He was young, bearded man, wearing a white cap," Najibullah said. "He
slowed down, looked at me, and motioned with his hand and told me to get
away fast."
The bomber did the same to the passengers of a rickshaw riding behind
Najibullah.
At that moment Najibullah also heard the roaring engines of military
vehicles coming from behind. And then the explosion happened.
His bike shook violently but Najibullah did not fall off. Shocked, he
stopped to see what had taken place.
"I turned my head only to see fire and dust," Najibullah said. As the
dust settled, he saw American soldiers running outside. Some lay on the
ground.
Three U.S. troops died in the blast, said Tech. Sgt. Chuck Marsh, a U.S.
military spokesman. Another was wounded. The troops served with NATO's
International Security Assistance Force.
Three civilians also died and two others were wounded, the Interior
Ministry said in a statement.
Such attacks are quite common across Afghanistan. Taliban and other
insurgent groups regularly use suicide and roadside bombs in assaults on
foreign and Afghan troops. According to military figures, 172 coalition
forces were killed in such attacks last year _ and far more Afghan
civilians died.
As the conflict intensifies elsewhere in the country, U.S. troops called
in airstrikes on groups of insurgents in the eastern Logar province
Tuesday, killing 13 insurgents, the U.S. military statement said.
Separately, in the eastern Khost province, a convoy of Afghan and
American troops killed the driver of a car when the vehicle did not slow
down in response to shouts to stop and warning shots, said Chief Petty
Officer Brian Naranjo, a U.S. forces spokesman.
"They fired to stop the vehicle and killed the driver," Naranjo said.
In the south, U.S. forces said they killed eight Taliban fighters in a
clash in Uruzgan province on Monday. The troops were on patrol when
Taliban fighters attacked with small-arms fire and heavy machine guns.
The coalition said two of its troops and three Afghan policemen were
wounded, and that they were in stable condition.
Southern Afghanistan is the center of the Taliban-led insurgency, where
thousands of new American troops will join the fight this year.
President Barack Obama hopes the new troops can turn the tide of the
Taliban successes in the last three years.
___
Associated Press Writer Fisnik Abrashi reported from Kabul.