Learn Chinese - 35 killed in Kabul suicide bomb attack

WORLD / Asia-Pacific

35 killed in Kabul suicide bomb attack

(AP)
Updated: 2007-06-18 09:17

KABUL, Afghanistan - The deadliest insurgent attack since the US-led
invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 destroyed a bus full of police
instructors at Kabul's busiest transportation hub on Sunday, killing 35
people and wounding 52, officials said.

Afghans are kept from the bomb blast site by police in Kabul, Afghanistan
on Sunday, June 17, 2007. [AP]

The enormous suicide blast, which raised the specter of an increase in
Iraq-style bombings with heavy casualties, was at least the fourth attack
against a bus carrying Afghan police or army soldiers in Kabul in the
last year. The blast sheared off the bus' metal sidings and roof, leaving
a charred frame.

"Never in my life have I heard such a sound," said Ali Jawad, a
48-year-old who was selling phone cards nearby. "A big fireball followed.
I saw blood and a decapitated man thrown out of the bus."

The explosion was the fifth suicide attack in Afghanistan in three days,
part of a sharp spike in violence around the country. In the south, in
Kandahar province, a roadside bomb killed three members of the US-led
coalition and an Afghan interpreter. The soldiers' nationalities were not
released, but most in the coalition are American.

Condemning the Kabul attack, President Hamid Karzai said the "enemies of
Afghanistan" were trying to stop the development of Afghan security
forces, a key component in the US- NATO strategy of handing over security
responsibilities to the Afghan government one day, allowing Western
forces to leave.

A self-described Taliban spokesman, Qari Yousef Ahmadi, said a Taliban
suicide bomber named Mullah Asim Abdul Rahman caused the blast. Ahmadi
called an Associated Press reporter from an undisclosed location. His
claim could not be verified.

Zemeri Bashary, the spokesman for the Interior Ministry, said late Sunday
that 35 were killed and 52 wounded in the blast. Karzai's office said 22
police instructors died, indicating that 13 of the dead were civilians.

At least one person survived the 8:10 a.m. bus blast. Nasir Ahmad, 22, a
janitor at the police training academy, was sitting in the back of the
bus when the bomb exploded. Speaking from a hospital bed where he was
recovering from wounds to his face and hands, he said: "There were
between 30 to 40 police instructors in the bus."

It was the only full sentence he managed to utter before stopping from
exhaustion.

At the entrance to the hospital, a blue plastic trash can overflowed with
the bloodied shoes and sandals of victims.

Interior Minister Zarar Ahmad Muqbal said initial indications were that a
suicide bomber boarded the bus as it stopped to pick up police
instructors at an open-air bus station in central Kabul. Such a suicide
attack would represent a sizable jump in lethality compared to more
typical Taliban suicide bombings, which often kill far fewer people.

Maj. John Thomas, a spokesman for NATO's International Security
Assistance Force, said it was too early to tell if the attack was a sign
of more lethal bombings to come, or heavier involvement by al-Qaida. NATO
commanders have long predicted a rise in suicide attacks this year.

A civilian bus was driving just in front of the police vehicle and was
damaged when the bomb went off. A police officer at the scene said the
civilian bus' position likely prevented more civilian casualties.

Afghan government officials, police and army soldiers are commonly
targeted by insurgents trying to bring down Karzai's US-backed
government, and buses carrying Afghan police and army soldiers are common
targets.

In May, a remote-control bomb hit an Afghan army bus in Kabul, killing
the driver and wounding 29 people. In October, a bomb on a bicycle
exploded as a police bus went by in Kabul, wounding 11. Last July, a
remote-controlled bomb blew up near an Afghan army bus in downtown Kabul,
wounding 39 people on board.

Police seem to be taking notice, and one officer suggested Afghans are
beginning to equate police with danger rather than safety.

"We are afraid now that the police are increasingly coming under attack,"
said Allah Bubani, a 22-year-old recent graduate of the police training
academy who said he likely knew some of the instructors killed in the
attack. "Nowadays the ordinary people are scared of the police, because
they fear an attack on the force would also harm them."

At least 307 Afghan police, army or intelligence personnel have been
killed in violence so far this year through June 15, according to an AP
tally of figures from the US, UN, NATO and Afghan authorities.

The European Union on Sunday took control from Germany of the Western
mission to train Afghan police. The EU, which will have 200 police, law
enforcement and justice experts at the Kabul training center, said the
attack "does nothing to diminish our determination to maintain our
support for the construction of the Afghan police force."

Sunday's death toll exceeded that of a September 2002 Kabul car bombing
that killed 30 people and wounded 167.

Insurgency-related violence has killed more than 2,400 people in
Afghanistan this year, mostly insurgents, according to an AP count based
on figures from US, NATO, UN and Afghan officials.

Dr. Asadullah, a health worker at Jamhuriat hospital, said two
Pakistanis, two Japanese and one Korean national were among those wounded
Sunday.

At one point Sunday, the Interior Minister and a hospital director
revised the initial death toll of 35 down to 24, but a government
official in the Health Ministry speaking on condition he not be
identified because of the sensitivity of the matter said the government
may have been trying to downplay the severity of the attack.

Top World News 

� Israel' Peretz resigns from government

� N.Korea envoy eyes talks soon

� Hamas gives amnesty; killings persist

� Arab League to hold Mideast crisis talks

� Ahern elected as Irish PM for third term

Today's Top News 

� Slave-labor boss detained amid national shock

� Two major lakes again hit by algae

� Bumper summer crop on the cards

� China win sixth Sudirman Cup title

� 'Climate change root of Darfur strife'

Most Commented/Read Stories in 48 Hours

Learning Materials, Chinese Course, Mandarin audio lessons, Chinese writing lessons, Chinese vocabulary lists, About chinese characters, News in Chinese, Go to China, Travel to China, Study in China, Teach in China, Dictionaries, Learn Chinese Painting, Your name in Chinese, Chinese calligraphy, Chinese songs, Chinese proverbs, Chinese poetry, Chinese tattoo, Beijing 2008 Olympics, Mandarin Phrasebook, Chinese editor, Pinyin editor, China Travel, Travel to Beijing, Travel to Tibet