2 NATO Occupation Soldiers, 8 Afghanis Killed in Two Taliban Attacks

Taliban suicide blasts kill 5 in Afghanistan

www.chinaview.cn 2008-03-04 16:03:13

By Zhang Yunlong, Shuai Rong

KABUL, March 4 (Xinhua) --

Taliban fighters in a suicide car blast killed one person and injured four others, all policemen, inKhost province of eastern Afghanistan on Tuesday, the interior ministry said.

The attacker was trying to ram his explosive-laden vehicle to the district chief's building in Tani district of Khost when he detonated the bomb, the ministry said in a statement.

"The explosion occurred at around 11:45 a.m. local time killed the bomber himself and destroyed his vehicle also," a local police spokesman Wazir Badshah told Xinhua.

Zabihullah Mujahed, a spokesman for the Taliban, told media that Taliban conducted the attack, adding "some 10 policemen were killed."

This is the second bombing attack in two days in Khost, where a suicide car blast targeted another district center building killed four including two NATO soldiers and two Afghan workers on Monday.

Major Richelle Dowdell, an official with NATO press office here told Xinhua that the explosion near the building killed two soldiers of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and injured 15 other soldiers.

Two Afghan workers were also killed and one policeman "slightly" injured on Monday in the attack at the government office, jointly guarded by Afghan and ISAF troops, Mohammad Ayub, Khost provincial police chief told Xinhua.

Taliban spokesman Qari Yousuf Ahmadi while claiming responsibility said, "five tons of explosives were used in the blast" and it "inflicted huge casualties on foreign and Afghan troops."

The Taliban Movement, fighting against Afghan government and foreign troops since (the US invasion in) 2001, continued to launch such guerrilla style attacks.

Three consecutive bombings rocked Kandahar, a known birthplace of the Taliban in southern Afghanistan, on Feb. 17-19, killing over 150 people and injuring many others, mostly civilians.

Local observers have predicted that an upsurge of (Taliban attacks) in the coming warm spring when the road traffic once blocked due to cold weather will resume in the country's remote regions and thus will facilitate militants' movement.

Editor: Wang Yan

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