35 killed in Afghan SUV blast
Source: Agencies |
June 26, 2011, Sunday
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A SUICIDE bomber blew up his sport utility vehicle outside a small clinic in eastern Afghanistan yesterday, bringing the building down on those inside, Afghan authorities said. At least 35 people were reported killed.
Would-be rescuers were frantically digging through the rubble in search of survivors trapped in the collapsed 10-bed clinic, said Mohammad Zaref Nayebkhail, the provincial health director.
The Taliban, authors of many bombings in the war-ravaged land, denied responsibility for this one. Zabiullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the movement said that "this attack was not done by our fighters."
Health Director Nayebkhail said guards had tried to prevent the attacker from driving his SUV into the medical compound, in the mountainous Azra district of Logar Province, 40 kilometers east of Kabul.
"The driver didn't stop and he entered the compound and reached the main building of the health center, where the truck detonated," he said.
Nayebkhail said at least 35 people were killed and at least 53 were wounded in the blast.
He said an Afghan army helicopter was dispatched to the area to deliver medical supplies and to ferry survivors to other hospitals. He said the clinic had recently been expanded to meet the health needs of the far-flung district's population.
Late Friday, another blast - this one caused by a bicycle rigged with explosives - ripped through a bazaar in the Khanabad district of Kunduz province in northern Afghanistan, killing at least 10 people, including a police officer. At least 24 people were wounded in the attack, according to an Interior Ministry statement.
The bombings were the latest episodes in a recent escalation of violence in Afghanistan. They followed President Barack Obama's announcement Wednesday that he plans to withdraw 10,000 US troops from Afghanistan by the end of the year. NATO officials say Afghan armed forces will be ready to take over more security duties, and by 2014 the Afghan government will be prepared for full sovereignty.
The French government reported, meanwhile, that a French soldier was killed after coming under fire from insurgents while on a reconnaissance mission east of Kabul.
The death brings the number of NATO service members killed in June to 47, and those killed this year to more than 200, slightly fewer than last year's six-month total.
Would-be rescuers were frantically digging through the rubble in search of survivors trapped in the collapsed 10-bed clinic, said Mohammad Zaref Nayebkhail, the provincial health director.
The Taliban, authors of many bombings in the war-ravaged land, denied responsibility for this one. Zabiullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the movement said that "this attack was not done by our fighters."
Health Director Nayebkhail said guards had tried to prevent the attacker from driving his SUV into the medical compound, in the mountainous Azra district of Logar Province, 40 kilometers east of Kabul.
"The driver didn't stop and he entered the compound and reached the main building of the health center, where the truck detonated," he said.
Nayebkhail said at least 35 people were killed and at least 53 were wounded in the blast.
He said an Afghan army helicopter was dispatched to the area to deliver medical supplies and to ferry survivors to other hospitals. He said the clinic had recently been expanded to meet the health needs of the far-flung district's population.
Late Friday, another blast - this one caused by a bicycle rigged with explosives - ripped through a bazaar in the Khanabad district of Kunduz province in northern Afghanistan, killing at least 10 people, including a police officer. At least 24 people were wounded in the attack, according to an Interior Ministry statement.
The bombings were the latest episodes in a recent escalation of violence in Afghanistan. They followed President Barack Obama's announcement Wednesday that he plans to withdraw 10,000 US troops from Afghanistan by the end of the year. NATO officials say Afghan armed forces will be ready to take over more security duties, and by 2014 the Afghan government will be prepared for full sovereignty.
The French government reported, meanwhile, that a French soldier was killed after coming under fire from insurgents while on a reconnaissance mission east of Kabul.
The death brings the number of NATO service members killed in June to 47, and those killed this year to more than 200, slightly fewer than last year's six-month total.
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