Taliban claims suicide attack, 24 perish
March 29, 2011, Tuesday
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THREE suicide bombers killed 24 people in an attack on a construction firm in a restive province in southeastern Afghanistan, government officials said yesterday, with the Taliban claiming responsibility for the assault.
Violence across Afghanistan has spiralled in the past year, with Taliban-led militants stepping up their fight against the government and its Western backers as Kabul prepares to take charge of security gradually from foreign forces.
An Interior Ministry statement said the attackers forced their way into the firm's compound after killing a security guard and then detonated a truck packed with explosives. "As a result, 24 employees of the construction company were killed and 50 others were injured," it said.
Mohebullah Sameem, governor of southeastern Paktika Province, earlier put the death toll from the attack in the remote Bermel District at 13.
He said the dead and wounded included employees of the firm and other civilians. Construction crews and others working on infrastructure projects are frequently targeted by insurgents.
Bermel shares a long border with lawless areas of neighboring Pakistan, where insurgents are said to have safe havens from which they launch attacks inside Afghanistan.
In an emailed statement to media, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed the group had carried out the attack but said it had been on a military base and that 49 foreign and Afghan troops had been killed and wounded.
Violence across Afghanistan has spiralled in the past year, with Taliban-led militants stepping up their fight against the government and its Western backers as Kabul prepares to take charge of security gradually from foreign forces.
An Interior Ministry statement said the attackers forced their way into the firm's compound after killing a security guard and then detonated a truck packed with explosives. "As a result, 24 employees of the construction company were killed and 50 others were injured," it said.
Mohebullah Sameem, governor of southeastern Paktika Province, earlier put the death toll from the attack in the remote Bermel District at 13.
He said the dead and wounded included employees of the firm and other civilians. Construction crews and others working on infrastructure projects are frequently targeted by insurgents.
Bermel shares a long border with lawless areas of neighboring Pakistan, where insurgents are said to have safe havens from which they launch attacks inside Afghanistan.
In an emailed statement to media, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed the group had carried out the attack but said it had been on a military base and that 49 foreign and Afghan troops had been killed and wounded.
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