Reports from Afghanistan say an explosion rocked the capital Kabul early Saturday just hours before polling stations were to open for a parliamentary election.
The French News Agency says the cause of the pre-dawn blast is not known, but the Associated Press quotes a police officer (Abdul Manan) as saying it was caused by a rocket. There was no word about casualties.
Posts Tagged ‘capital kabul’
Explosion in Afghan capital before vote
September 18th, 2010 |
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3 children, Afghan, NATO soldiers killed
April 19th, 2010 |
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Three children were killed and four other people injured when a bomb hidden in a donkey-drawn cart exploded in southern Afghanistan on Monday, officials said.
In a separate incident, one Afghan soldier and one NATO service member were killed in an explosion at a training camp in the capital Kabul. Several other soldiers were injured.
Deadly explosions rock Afghan capital
February 26th, 2010 |
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Investigators say the blasts struck near a nine story shopping area and a hotel early Friday. Afghan police say at least 17 people have been killed and 32 others wounded in a suicide bombing and other explosions in the capital, Kabul.
Taliban attack on guesthouse kills 6 UN workers
October 28th, 2009 |
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A United Nations spokesman in Afghanistan says militants have killed at least six UN workers and wounded nine others. Many of the victims of an attack on an international guesthouse in the capital, Kabul are believed to be foreigners, VOA reports.
Western troops die in Afghanistan
August 1st, 2009 |
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Four Western soldiers have been killed in separate attacks by insurgents in Afghanistan, officials say.
Three US troops died in roadside bomb blasts in the south of the country, while a French soldier was killed in a gun battle north of the capital, Kabul.
The Americans were killed when their patrol was hit by two devices in Kandahar province, officials said.
The incidents come after July saw the highest monthly death toll for foreign troops since 2001.
There were 43 Americans among the 74 killed.
The French soldier killed was a member of a 230-strong joint French-Afghan force ambushed by Taliban insurgents in a valley in Kapisa province. Two other French troops were wounded.
It brings to 29 the number of French dead in the conflict. France has 2,900 troops in Afghanistan.
There are altogether currently more than 100,000 US-led troops in Afghanistan combating a growing Taliban insurgency.
US President Barack Obama has ordered an additional 21,000 troops to the country by the end of the year.
Violence has increased ahead of presidential elections on 20 August.
Civilians and Afghan security officials have also come under attack as insurgents target election candidates and officials. </p
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Karzai ‘to review foreign forces’
July 24th, 2009 |
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Afghan president Hamid Karzai has said that he will review agreements with foreign forces operating in Afghanistan if he is re-elected.
He said he would make international forces sign an agreement governing how they operate, in an effort to limit civilian casualties.
President Karzai is seeking re-election in next month’s presidential poll.
The Afghan government has long been concerned about the civilian death toll as foreign troops battle insurgents.
The new commander of US and Nato-led troops in Afghanistan, Gen Stanley McChrystal, has recently echoed this concern.
Last month he said troops must make the shift from conventional warfare strategies to protecting Afghan civilians.
The move came after a US military inquiry found that a US air strike in May in which Afghan civilians died had breached guidelines.
The number of civilian casualties has been a potent issue for many Afghans and for candidates campaigning ahead of next month’s presidential and provincial council elections.
Tensions high
Mr Karzai was speaking at a campaign rally in the capital, Kabul.
He said that foreign forces too often took decisions without consulting the Afghan government.
"It should be clear who is the owner of the house and who is the guest," Mr Karzai was quoted by the Associated Press news agency as saying at the rally.
Tensions between Kabul and Washington have been high in recent months over the numbers of civilian casualties.
The UN says US, Nato and Afghan forces killed 829 civilians while fighting Taliban insurgents last year.
US and British troops have recently launched a major offensive against insurgent strongholds in southern Afghanistan.
President Karzai’s campaign rally comes one day after he refused to take part in a televised debate between two of the main presidential candidates.
He is facing challenges from 40 other candidates.
Correspondents say the front runners in the vote are President Karzai, former finance minister Ashraf Ghani, former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah and former deputy speaker of the lower house of parliament, Mirwais Yasini.</p
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Afghan blast kills UK bomb disposal soldier
July 21st, 2009 |
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Death brings to 187 the number of UK troops killed since US-led invasion began in 2001
A British soldier from a bomb disposal team has been killed in an explosion in southern Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defence said today.
The soldier from the joint force explosive ordnance disposal group was killed yesterday afternoon while on patrol in Helmand province. His death brings to 187 the number of British troops killed in Afghanistan since the US-led invasion in 2001.
Britain has increased its troop levels in Afghanistan to about 9,000 soldiers this year to improve security before next month’s presidential election.
Most of the recent British casualties have been caused by roadside bombs. The son of a British army general lost a leg in a blast on Saturday, the Sun newspaper reported. Captain Harry Parker, 26, was seriously ill in Selly Oak hospital, Birmingham, after suffering multiple injuries in the explosion.
His father is Lieutenant General Sir Nick Parker, the army’s third most senior officer who will become deputy commander of Nato forces in Afghanistan in September, the newspaper said.
Capt Parker was injured by a bomb as he led a foot patrol of the 4th Battalion The Rifles in Helmand.
Meanwhile, in eastern Afghanistan, at least eight people were killed when Taliban suicide bombers attacked government buildings in Gardez, the capital of Paktika province. Witnesses said at least five members of the Afghan security forces and three Taliban fighters were killed during gun battles in the town.
Two of the attackers were suicide bombers dressed in traditional female burkas, an Afghan working for a foreign aid agency told Reuters.
A number of government offices were hit in the attacks, the source said. The Taliban have carried out similar attacks recently in Paktika, the capital, Kabul, and elsewhere.
The violence has flared across Afghanistan since thousands of US marines and British troops launched major offensives in the southern Taliban stronghold of Helmand.
The offensives are the first operations under Barack Obama’s new regional strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan to defeat the Taliban and its Islamist allies.
The recent fighting has led to a record number of British casualties since the start of the war, with more than 150 seriously wounded within a week, defence officials said yesterday. The figures are in addition to the 18 soldiers killed so far this month.
Experts said the death of another British soldier and the row over helicopters masked a wider issue: the new strategy is nearly identical to the old one of using military force to secure an area before bringing in development and governance. The one difference is the use of an additional 17,000 troops.
“As in the past, it has proved relatively easy to push the Taliban out of an area,” said Gareth Price of the Chatham House thinktank. “The question now is whether the Afghan state has the ability to garner genuine public support. It is that popular support, and not just military power, that will prevent the Taliban returning once the western troops have left.”
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