By Amir Shah and Robert H. Reid - The Associated PressPosted : Tuesday May 18, 2010 19:34:27 EDT
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2010/05/ap_kabul_suicide_bomb_051810/
KABUL, Afghanistan — A suicide bomber detonated his vehicle near a U.S. convoy Tuesday, killing 18 people, including six troops — five Americans and a Canadian — in the deadliest attack on NATO in the Afghan capital in eight months.
The Canadian, Col. Geoff Parker, 42, was the highest-ranking member of the Canadian Forces to die in Afghanistan since the Canadian mission began in 2002, the country’s military said.
Twelve Afghan civilians also died — many of them on a public bus in rush-hour traffic along a major thoroughfare that runs by the ruins of a one-time royal palace and government ministries. At least 47 people were wounded, the Interior Ministry said.
The blast was the first major attack in the Afghan capital since February and followed a Taliban announcement of a spring offensive even as the U.S. gears up for a major push to restore order in the turbulent south.
Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the blast, telling The Associated Press in a telephone call that the bomber was a man from Kabul and that the vehicle was packed with 1,650 pounds of explosives.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai joined the U.S. and NATO in condemning the attack, which he said killed women and children.
The explosion, which thundered across the capital, happened about 8 a.m. as streets were packed with cars, buses and trucks. The bomb ripped apart vehicles and hurled body parts along the street. U.S. and Afghan forces blocked off the area as emergency workers loaded the wounded into ambulances.
“I saw one person lying on the ground with no head,” said Mirza Mohammad, who was on his way to work when the blast took place. Police officer Wahidullah, who goes by one name, said he saw the body of a woman in a pale blue burqa smashed up against the window of the bus.
“Dead bodies were everywhere,” Wahidullah said.
U.S. forces spokesman Army Col. Wayne Shanks said five American service members were killed in the Kabul blast. The U.S. command said a sixth American died separately in a bombing Tuesday in southern Afghanistan.
That brought the number of U.S. troops killed in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan since the war began in 2001 to at least 993, according to an Associated Press count.
The Kabul attack was the heaviest loss of life for NATO in a single attack in the capital since Sept. 17, when a suicide car bomber killed six Italian soldiers.
Earlier this month, the Taliban announced a new offensive — “Operation Al-Fatah” or “Victory” — which would target NATO forces, foreign diplomats, contractors and Afghan government officials.
The announcement was made on the eve of Karzai’s visit to Washington and comes as U.S., NATO and Afghan forces are gearing up for a major operation to secure Kandahar, the biggest city in the south and the former Taliban headquarters before they were ousted from power in the 2001 U.S.-led invasion. U.S. officials believe control of Kandahar is the key to stabilizing the Taliban’s southern heartland.
Kabul has been abuzz for weeks with rumors of imminent Taliban attacks against Afghan government and international targets. The last major assault in the city occurred Feb. 26 when suicide attackers struck at two residential hotels, killing six Indians and 10 Afghans.
Afghan authorities blamed the February attack on Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Pakistan-based militant group that India blames for the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks that killed 166 people.
On April 8, Afghan police announced they had arrested five would-be suicide bombers on their way to carry out a major attack in the city.
Eleven days later, the Afghan intelligence service said nine members of a terrorist cell had been arrested — presumably from the support network that was to have helped the five others carry out their attacks.
The bombing Tuesday suggests the Taliban have reconstituted their underground cells, presumably from within the city’s large Pashtun community, which forms the bulk of the insurgent force.
Also Tuesday, Afghan and NATO aircraft continued the search for an Afghan commercial airliner which disappeared Monday on a flight from Kunduz to Kabul with 44 people on board, including three British citizens and an American. Air traffic controllers lost track of the Antonov-24, operated by Pamir Airways, when it was about 55 miles north of Kabul.
“Right now, we are looking to identify the location of the crash,” Karzai said at a news conference. “In some areas, the bad weather — snow, rain and fog — will not let us do the search. We’re very hopeful that we will able to find the victims of the crash soon and hand the bodies over to their families.”
Abdul Shakour, a district official in Parwan province, said seven tribal elders in the area where the plane was last reported each promised to send two or three experienced climbers to search the remote mountains for any sign of the missing aircraft.
For families of those aboard the aircraft, however, despair turned to anger over delays in finding the wreckage.
“People are very upset with the government because it has no forces here to help us. And these 48 countries in ISAF, where are they today? They are not here to help us,” said Mohammad Isahq, a Kabul shopkeeper whose nephew, Omar Sahel, was a flight attendant on the plane.
Isahq said that the families were ready to do the search themselves if authorities would provide them with proper equipment and point them in the right direction.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
MORE DETAILS ON FIVE U.S. TROOPS KILLED IN KABUL AFGHANISTAN (SOURCE: ARMY TIMES)
VIOLENT VIDEO: AFGHANISTAN: THE OTHER WAR
The war in Afghanistan is often referred to as "the other war" because the mainstream media pays little or no attention to the war.
The suicide bombing on Tuesday in Kabul that killed five American soldiers was given only a brief mention on ONE television news show on Tuesday.
This video shows American and Canadian troops fighting the Taliban as they head for the Taliban stronghold in Kandahar, Afghanistan.
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http://www.youtube.com/v/DRu3SknDTHU&hl=en_US&fs=1
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FIRST VIDEO OF TALIBAN SUICIDE ATTACK THAT KILLED 5 AMERICAN GIS
This video comes from Yahoo and shows the first pictures of what happened when a Taliban suicide bomber set off a bomb that killed five American soldiers and 18 Afghan civilians.
WATCH VIDEO HERE:
http://news.yahoo.com/video/world-15749633/19892359;_ylt=AuyGYJqCBLrkxcVnyRCng9QBS5Z4
GRAPHIC VIDEO OF SUICIDE BOMBING IN AFGHANISTAN
Video shows the graphic results of a suicide bombing in Kabul, Afghanistan that killed 21.
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http://www.youtube.com/v/LPsKQhTYkyU&hl=en_US&fs=1
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AH-64 CHOPPERS RETALIATE AGAINST TALIBAN SUICIDE BOMBING (NEW VIDEO)
New Video shows AH-64 helicopters retaliating against the Taliban who killed 18 including five American soldiers in a suicide bombing in Kabul, Afghanistan.
Song: "Extreme Ways" by Moby
Just released video.
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http://www.youtube.com/v/SL2ECPC4_RA&hl=en_US&fs=1
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(UPDATE) TALIBAN SUICIDE ATTACKS KILLS 18 IN KABUL AFGHANISTAN
Afghanistan Taliban suicide attack kills 18 in Kabul
The Afghanistan Taliban has claimed responsibility for Tuesday's suicide attack on a NATO convoy that killed at least 18 people, including five Americans.
Afghan police and US military cordon off an area after a suicide car bomb attack in Kabul, Afghanistan, Tuesday. The blast ripped through a NATO convoy and public bus in the heavily fortified Afghan capital, killing at least 18 people, including five Americans and at least 12 Afghanistan civilians.(Amir Shah/AP)
By Kristen Chick, Correspondent posted May 18, 2010 at 8:17 am EDT
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/terrorism-security/2010/0518/Afghanistan-Taliban-suicide-attack-kills-18-in-Kabul
• A daily summary of global reports on security issues.
A powerful suicide attack on a NATO convoy in Kabul killed at least 18 people Tuesday, including five Americans and at least 12 Afghanistan civilians.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the suicide car bombing, the deadliest attack in Kabul in months. It comes as Afghan officials are preparing to hold a jirga, or council, in Kabul to discuss peace and reconciliation with insurgents.
The bombing killed six NATO officials, five of them American, reports the Associated Press. NATO officials did not disclose the nationality of the sixth.
In addition to at least 12 Afghan civilians who were killed, more than 47 were wounded.
Many had been on a public bus that was caught in the blast, according to Afghan officials. The Taliban told the AP in a phone call that the NATO convoy was the target of the attack, which was carried out by a man from Kabul using a car packed with 1,650 pounds of explosives.
The attack took place on a busy thoroughfare near the Afghan parliament building and a military recruiting and training center, reports McClatchy.
It comes on the heels of a three-month campaign by the government to stop attacks on Kabul, during which officials said they arrested more than 115 suspects, including some planning suicide attacks on the capital.
That effort to tighten security came after a Feb. 26 attack, when the Taliban targeted hotels and guesthouses serving foreigners, killing 16 people.
Tuesday’s attack is the first major one since then, and, according to Agence France-Presse, the deadliest attack on the capital in more than a year. But the government offensive only appears to have hardened militants.
The Taliban last week announced a new nationwide offensive against US and coalition forces in the country, vowing to use suicide attacks and roadside bombings to hit foreign troops, contractors, and diplomats, as The Christian Science Monitor reported. Afghan and US officials dismissed the threat as propaganda, though NATO officers said they would continue to remain vigilant against attacks.
The attack took place just before Afghanistan’s president, Hamid Karzai, was scheduled to speak to the press after returning from his visit to the US.
NEWS ALERT: AFGHAN PLANE CRASHES WITH 44 ON BOARD
An Afghanistan plane carrying 44 civilians has crashed in Afghanistan.
Reports are still coming in.
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http://www.youtube.com/v/nqC5aypDpD0&hl=en_US&fs=1
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DEVELOPING STORY: EIGHT AMERICAN SOLDIERS KILLED IN KABUL AFGHANISTAN
This is a news report coming out of Afghanistan. According to sources in Kabul, Afghanistan eight American soldiers have been killed in Kabul, Afghanistan.
Developing story...
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MARINES FACE STIFF RESISTANCE FROM TALIBAN (RAW VIDEO)
This new video comes from the New York Times and their embedded reporter C.J. Shivers as Marines run into fierce resistance from the Taliban as they push South in Afghanistan.
One Marine is shot in the shoulder, but as fortune would have it the bullet didn't hit any bone.
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http://www.youtube.com/v/frTNEoCHreE&hl=en_US&fs=1
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