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Attack kills at least 30 in northern Afghanistan
Source: Agencies |
February 22, 2011, Tuesday
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A SUICIDE bomber blew himself up at the entrance to an Afghan government office yesterday, killing at least 30 people - many who were waiting in line to obtain government identification cards, police said.
The attack occurred around noon in Imam Sahib district of Kunduz province in northern Afghanistan where there has been a sharp slide in security in recent months, said district police chief Abdul Qayum Ebrahimi. At least 40 people were wounded in the blast, he said.
"We were in a meeting. It was a very powerful explosion," said Ebrahimi, who works in the district police office next door to the blast site. "People had gathered in the front of the department to get identification cards."
He said the blast occurred in the district center on a day when people gather to shop.
"They become the target of the terror today," he said.
Violence has been on the rise in the north, where there are known hide-outs for the Taliban, al-Qaida and fighters from other militant factions, including the Haqqani network, Hizb-i-Islami and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan. NATO has sent more troops to the north and has been pushing harder into militant-held areas.
In October, a bomb killed Kunduz Governor Mohammad Omar and 19 others in a crowded mosque in neighboring Takhar province. Omar was killed just days after he warned of escalating threats from Taliban and foreign fighters in the north.
Separately, the NATO coalition said it was investigating the accidental death of Afghan civilians in Nangarhar province along the Pakistan border. NATO said it deeply regretted the accident on Sunday night in Khogyani district.
Ahmad Zia Abdulzai, a spokesman for the governor of Nangarhar, said coalition forces fired at three insurgents planting a roadside mine near a NATO base. One weapon missed the target, hit a house and killed a couple and their four children, he said.
"My four grandsons, my daughter-in-law and my son were martyred here," Mehrab Khan, 55, said at their funeral yesterday.
The incident came a day after Afghan officials alleged that 64 civilians died in coalition operations in Kunar province, a hotbed of the insurgency.
The attack occurred around noon in Imam Sahib district of Kunduz province in northern Afghanistan where there has been a sharp slide in security in recent months, said district police chief Abdul Qayum Ebrahimi. At least 40 people were wounded in the blast, he said.
"We were in a meeting. It was a very powerful explosion," said Ebrahimi, who works in the district police office next door to the blast site. "People had gathered in the front of the department to get identification cards."
He said the blast occurred in the district center on a day when people gather to shop.
"They become the target of the terror today," he said.
Violence has been on the rise in the north, where there are known hide-outs for the Taliban, al-Qaida and fighters from other militant factions, including the Haqqani network, Hizb-i-Islami and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan. NATO has sent more troops to the north and has been pushing harder into militant-held areas.
In October, a bomb killed Kunduz Governor Mohammad Omar and 19 others in a crowded mosque in neighboring Takhar province. Omar was killed just days after he warned of escalating threats from Taliban and foreign fighters in the north.
Separately, the NATO coalition said it was investigating the accidental death of Afghan civilians in Nangarhar province along the Pakistan border. NATO said it deeply regretted the accident on Sunday night in Khogyani district.
Ahmad Zia Abdulzai, a spokesman for the governor of Nangarhar, said coalition forces fired at three insurgents planting a roadside mine near a NATO base. One weapon missed the target, hit a house and killed a couple and their four children, he said.
"My four grandsons, my daughter-in-law and my son were martyred here," Mehrab Khan, 55, said at their funeral yesterday.
The incident came a day after Afghan officials alleged that 64 civilians died in coalition operations in Kunar province, a hotbed of the insurgency.
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