Related News
5 Afghan deminers killed in roadside bombing
Source: Agencies |
April 11, 2010, Sunday
|
Online Edition
Online Edition
A bus carrying Afghans working for a US-supported demining group was struck by a roadside bomb in Kandahar province today, killing five workers and wounding 13 others.
Also today, NATO said an Afghan soldier shot and lightly wounded a Polish soldier with whom he had been arguing. The Afghan soldier fled after the shooting and was being sought by Afghan and international forces.
The bus belonging to the Demining Agency for Afghanistan was struck early Sunday as it traveled through Kandahar province's Daman district, according to Mohammed Ibrahim, chief of medicine at Kandahar Hospital.
Roadside bombs are a signature weapon of the Taliban in their struggle against foreign forces and the Afghan government, but more often kill Afghan civilians. It wasn't clear if the blast was random or specifically targeted the demining agency, known as DAFA, which receives more than half its funding from the US State Department, according to its Web site.
The group clears mines across southern Afghanistan that are a legacy of 25 years of near-continuous warfare and continue to kill scores of Afghans each year.
The unidentified Pole shot Saturday night at a joint command center in the eastern province of Ghazni was transferred to a medical facility for treatment, according to a NATO spokesman in Kabul, speaking on routine condition of anonymity.
The Ghazni base is headquarters of the 2,600 Polish troops stationed in Afghanistan as part of the NATO effort to root out Taliban remnants and extend the central government's remit into rural areas.
While rare, Afghan troop attacks on international forces risk damaging the trust between Afghan police and soldiers who work side-by-side with their foreign mentors on training and combat missions. In the latest and most serious incident, a rogue policeman in Helmand province shot and killed five British soldiers.
Afghan Defense Ministry spokesman Mohammad Zahir Azimi said the shooting resulted from an argument between the two men, but details weren't immediately known. He said both had pulled weapons and fired, but only the Polish soldier was wounded. The whereabouts of the Afghan soldier weren't known and it was possible he was hiding somewhere on the base, Azimi said.
"It seems to have been a fight and the soldier was operating on his own," Azimi said.
Zabiullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the Taliban, said the Afghan soldier had escaped, killing four Afghan solders in the process, and was now with the insurgents. The claim could not be verified and the Taliban has a history of making false and exaggerated claims.
Also Sunday, supporters were awaiting word on the fate of three Italian medical workers detained the day before as part of an investigation into an alleged plot to kill an Afghan provincial governor. They were among nine people held after suicide bomb vests, hand grenades, pistols and explosives were discovered in a hospital storeroom in Lashkar Gah, the capital of the southern province of Helmand, the provincial government said.
Police were tipped off about a plot to kill Helmand's governor during a future visit to the hospital, spokesman Daud Ahmadi had said Saturday.
Emergency, the Milan-based organization that runs the hospital and other medical centers around Afghanistan, denied involvement in any plot and said it was confident its staffers would be exonerated.
Also today, NATO said an Afghan soldier shot and lightly wounded a Polish soldier with whom he had been arguing. The Afghan soldier fled after the shooting and was being sought by Afghan and international forces.
The bus belonging to the Demining Agency for Afghanistan was struck early Sunday as it traveled through Kandahar province's Daman district, according to Mohammed Ibrahim, chief of medicine at Kandahar Hospital.
Roadside bombs are a signature weapon of the Taliban in their struggle against foreign forces and the Afghan government, but more often kill Afghan civilians. It wasn't clear if the blast was random or specifically targeted the demining agency, known as DAFA, which receives more than half its funding from the US State Department, according to its Web site.
The group clears mines across southern Afghanistan that are a legacy of 25 years of near-continuous warfare and continue to kill scores of Afghans each year.
The unidentified Pole shot Saturday night at a joint command center in the eastern province of Ghazni was transferred to a medical facility for treatment, according to a NATO spokesman in Kabul, speaking on routine condition of anonymity.
The Ghazni base is headquarters of the 2,600 Polish troops stationed in Afghanistan as part of the NATO effort to root out Taliban remnants and extend the central government's remit into rural areas.
While rare, Afghan troop attacks on international forces risk damaging the trust between Afghan police and soldiers who work side-by-side with their foreign mentors on training and combat missions. In the latest and most serious incident, a rogue policeman in Helmand province shot and killed five British soldiers.
Afghan Defense Ministry spokesman Mohammad Zahir Azimi said the shooting resulted from an argument between the two men, but details weren't immediately known. He said both had pulled weapons and fired, but only the Polish soldier was wounded. The whereabouts of the Afghan soldier weren't known and it was possible he was hiding somewhere on the base, Azimi said.
"It seems to have been a fight and the soldier was operating on his own," Azimi said.
Zabiullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the Taliban, said the Afghan soldier had escaped, killing four Afghan solders in the process, and was now with the insurgents. The claim could not be verified and the Taliban has a history of making false and exaggerated claims.
Also Sunday, supporters were awaiting word on the fate of three Italian medical workers detained the day before as part of an investigation into an alleged plot to kill an Afghan provincial governor. They were among nine people held after suicide bomb vests, hand grenades, pistols and explosives were discovered in a hospital storeroom in Lashkar Gah, the capital of the southern province of Helmand, the provincial government said.
Police were tipped off about a plot to kill Helmand's governor during a future visit to the hospital, spokesman Daud Ahmadi had said Saturday.
Emergency, the Milan-based organization that runs the hospital and other medical centers around Afghanistan, denied involvement in any plot and said it was confident its staffers would be exonerated.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
