Al Q in Afghanistan? How CAN that be? I thought we did such a good job there. Gosh, now WHY aren't we trying to put Afghanistan back together? And WHY did we invade Iraq? Outside Kabul the place is a mess.
I am sure Al Q will take advantage of our mess in Iraq to recruit. Who could blame them? We gave them the prefect recruiting opportunity - as I and many others said we would.
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Bus Bomb kills 17 In Southern Afghanistan
KABUL, August 13 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - A massive bomb on a minibus killed 17 people, half of them children, and injured three others in southern Afghanistan early Wednesday, August 13, officials said.
The bomb exploded at 8:00 am (0330 GMT) just outside Lashkar Gah, capital of Helmand province 550 kilometers southwest of Kabul, said Abdul Rahman Sabir, security commander of Helmand province.
"Due to an explosion inside the minibus 17 people were killed, half of them children," Sabir told Agence France-Presse (AFP) by telephone. Three people including the driver were injured.
The victims were all Afghan. Sabir said the death toll was not final as many bodies were blown apart by the blast.
"It was a massive explosion. Police gathered body parts from the area and after we gathered all the body parts we reckoned 17 people were killed."
Sixteen of the victims were killed immediately, he said.
The blast was caused by explosives inside the bus and not a landmine, he said, citing police investigations.
Sabir blamed Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants, who have been blamed for a series of attacks in Afghanistan's south and east.
"We have reports that they are planning more bomb attacks," he added.
The Toyota minibus was on a 25-kilometre (15-mile) journey from Marja district to Lashkar Gah when the bomb exploded around 15 kilometers (10 miles) west of the provincial capital.
Eight 'Taliban' killed In attack
Meanwhile in Kabul, eight suspected ‘Taliban’ were killed early Wednesday after militants unleashed a major attack on Afghan border forces in southeast Khost province, officials said.
"Early Wednesday morning at 2:00 am (2130 GMT Tuesday) a group of Taliban and Al-Qaeda attacked our posts," Khost corps commander General Khial Baz Khan told AFP by telephone.
"Eight of them were killed and two of them who, were not Afghans, were arrested."
Afghan border guards had recovered eight bodies but they had not yet been identified.
The two captured men included a Pakistani and an Arab, Baz Khan said.
The incident occurred east of Khost city around five kilometers (three miles) from the border with Pakistan, he said.
International peacekeepers and U.S. military officials say there has been an increase in attacks over the past few months, particularly in south and southeast provinces bordering Pakistan.
Some 20 months after the Taliban was toppled by a U.S.-led military coalition, members of the Taliban and Al-Qaeda appear to be intensifying a guerrilla campaign against foreign and government troops and humanitarian workers.
Blast In Kabul
In Kabul, police said on Wednesday that two suspected student Al-Qaeda militants were killed and one other injured when a bomb they were preparing exploded in a house in the Afghan capital.
Police said the bomb blew up at 4:00 am Tuesday morning (2330 GMT Monday) in the Khosh Hal Khan Meena neighborhood of western Kabul.
"Two people were killed and one injured in a big explosion in the house," said Abdul Jamil Kohistani, director of Kabul Security Command Criminal Investigation Department.
"The explosion totally destroyed the room they were in and made a hole down into the basement; that's why we can say they were working on a big bomb," he told AFP.
"Relatives of the three say it was a hand grenade but from the explosion we can say a grenade would never cause so much destruction."
All three men were students at Kabul Medical Institute and the house belonged to the family of one of the two killed. The explosion occurred in a guest room separate from the main house, he said.
"Police think they are members of Al-Qaeda," Kabul police chief Basir Salangi said.
Kohistani said the injured man was in a coma and would be questioned when he recovered.
"He is the key to this case so as soon as he recovers he can tell us exactly what was going on in the house. But police still think it was a terrorist act," he said.
Kohistani said relatives of the two dead men were preparing for their funerals and would be questioned afterwards.
Police seized two old Volkswagen cars from the house and were investigating whether they were to have been used in car bomb attacks. |
