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New suicide blast kills 35 in Spin Boldak, Afghanistan, near Pakistan border
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AFP) – A Taliban suicide car bomb aimed at Canadian soldiers killed 35 civilians, a day after another suicide blast left more than 100 dead in the country’s deadliest such attack.
The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said three of its soldiers were also wounded in the powerful suicide blast in Spin Boldak, a busy market town near the Pakistan border.
Kandahar province governor Asadullah Khalid told reporters they were Canadians. “The suicide attacker detonated near a Canadian military convoy. In the attack 35 civilians were killed, 27 civilians were wounded and also three Canadian troops were wounded.”
Khalid said the target of Sunday’s blast was an anti-Taliban militia commander, Abdul Halim Jan, who had been at the dog fight.
The commander had been warned that his life was under threat from the Taliban, the governor told hundreds of people packed into a mosque for a ceremony to mourn Jan. “We told him a week ago that a suicide bomber was looking for him. He said ‘I cannot hide, what should I do?'”
More than 35 of Jan’s armed men were also killed in the attack, said Ahmad Agha, an aide to the slain commander.
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The UN Security Council underlined in a statement “the need to bring perpetrators, organisers, financiers and sponsors of this reprehensible act of terrorism to justice.”
It reiterated that “no terrorist act can reverse the path toward peace, democracy and reconstruction in Afghanistan.”
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan – A suicide bombing at an outdoor dog fighting competition killed 80 people and wounded scores more Sunday, an Afghan governor said, in what appeared to be the deadliest terror attack in Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban in 2001.
Pro-government militia commander Abdul Halim Jan, who is fighting Taliban insurgents in south Afghanistan, is among those killed in the suicide blast in Taliban birthplace Kandahar, Kandahar governor Assadullah Khalid said.
Several hundred people — including Afghan militia leaders — had gathered to watch the event on the western edge of the southern city of Kandahar. Witnesses reported gunfire from bodyguards after the blast; it was not immediately clear how many of the casualties might have been caused by bullets.
Kandahar Gov. Asadullah Khalid said 80 people had been killed in the attack. Abdullah Fahim, a Health Ministry spokesman, said 90 were wounded.
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan – More combat operations from Canadians, not less, is what’s needed to squelch the insurgency in Kandahar, says one of the province’s most powerful politicians.
But Ahmed Wali Karzai, who represents Kandahar at the national assembly, says the fighting has to be quickly followed up with aggressive reconstruction projects. He made the comments in an interview as Canada debates whether its soldiers should have a combat role at all in Afghanistan.
Karzai said there is no question the Canadians are needed on the ground. But their focus should mimic that of the Americans in the province – targeted raids, often at night, that aim to kill or capture specific insurgents, instead of largescale military operations, he said.
“The night-time raids are the most successful thing since the war on terror started,” Karzai said. “More of those raids would be an excellent idea.” Karzai, whose brother is Afghan President Hamid Karzai, said the targeted raids cut down on the number of civilian casualties.
The night raids are most often conducted by U.S. troops operating in Kandahar as part of Operation Enduring Freedom, the U.S.-led military operation in Afghanistan that focuses directly on suspected terrorists.
NEW DELHI, India – BJP President Rajnath Singh refused to accept that the 1999 Kandahar episode was a ”weakpoint” for the party and it has been pushed on the ”backfoot” as Congress is raising questions over the NDA government’s approach to terrorism.
”We had to save the lives of so many people (held hostage on the hijacked plane). It does not mean we compromised with terrorism,” he told PTI in an interview amid sustained attack by Congress over NDA government’s decision to release three terrorists to end the hijacking crisis.
Congress chief Sonia Gandhi accused the saffron party of ”surrendering to terrorists” in 1999.
Five terrorists hijacked IC-814 plane during flight from Kathmandu to Delhi on December 24, 1999.
At least 154 passengers and crew were held hostage for eight days and the stand-off ended when three dreaded terrorists were released and Jaswant Singh took them on a special plane to Kandahar.
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."
