Two blasts hit Afghanistan's Kandahar, six dead

By Ismael Sameem –

Mon Mar 1, 2010, 8:10 am ET

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) –

Two blasts hours apart killed at least six people on Monday in Afghanistan's southern city of Kandahar, the birthplace of the Taliban whose fighters are being targeted in a renewed push by NATO-led troops.

Afghanistan's spy agency on Monday also banned media from covering Taliban attacks without its permission, saying such coverage only emboldened the Islamist militants.

NATO-led troops are trying to drive the Taliban out of their strongholds as part of a plan to hand control of the country to Afghan forces before a planned U.S. troop drawdown in July 2011.

In Monday's first blast, a suicide bomber blew up a car as International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) troops passed in convoy on a road several miles from Kandahar airport.

"Four civilians were killed and one wounded in the attack," said Mohammad Ibrahim, a doctor in a Kandahar hospital. Several soldiers were wounded.

The Taliban said in a statement the explosion killed at least 11 foreign soldiers but NATO said only one was killed.

A coalition helicopter evacuated the wounded, and a bridge close by was badly damaged, a Reuters journalist said.

The airport is a key base for a major offensive by ISAF and Afghan forces launched in neighboring Helmand province two weeks ago to retake the town of Marjah and the surrounding district.

The Afghan civilians were killed after they pulled their car to the side of the road, a common act in rural areas to allow convoys of foreign forces to pass, witnesses said.

Hours later, a car packed with explosives blew up outside the main police station in Kandahar, the spiritual home of the Taliban in Afghanistan and next expected target of NATO troops. The second Kandahar blast killed one police officer and wounded 16 people, including nine police, said Fazl Ahmad Sherzad, deputy police chief for Kandahar province.

A Reuters reporter at the scene saw at least six vehicles badly damaged. Shattered glass littered the area and several buildings nearby were destroyed.

GOVERNMENT MEDIA BAN

In the past week, the Taliban have carried out four big attacks killing at least 29 people and wounding scores more. An explosion at a busy bus stop near a government building in Helmand's capital, Lashkar Gah, killed 7 people and wounded 14.

On Friday, two suicide blasts and a two-hour shootout between Afghan forces and the Taliban rocked the capital Kabul, killing 16 people and wounding 37. Among those killed were Indian government employees and an Italian diplomat.

On Monday, the chief spokesman for Afghanistan's National Department of Security (NDS) summoned journalists to announce the agency's decision to ban media from covering such Taliban attacks across the country.

The ban includes live broadcasts even from a distance, spokesman Saeed Ansari said. Journalists will be allowed to cover the aftermath of the Taliban attacks only after NDS clearance, he said. Violators will have their equipment confiscated.

Taliban fighters have made a comeback, operating out of strongholds in the south into the east and north, and are resisting efforts by President Hamid Karzai's government to impose control.

(Additional reporting by Sayed Salahuddin in Kabul, Writing by Bryson Hull; Editing by Paul Tait)

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Statement of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan regarding monopolization of activities of Mass Media Outlets by the Puppet Administration.

Wednesday, 03 March 2010 12:14

http://alemarah.info/english -

According to international media reports, the Kabul Puppet Administration have warned media outlets not to publish or transmit live reports of events without obtainment of prior permission. In case of violation, they have threatened to arrest relevant reporters, seize their equipment and impose ban on activities of the concerned media outlet in a given area. International media outlets, civil societies and  human rights organizations have condemned the irrational warning of the Kabul puppet administration. The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan considers this measure of the surrogate administration as  a flagrant violation of the recognized principle of freedom of speech and wants to announce as follows:

1. The ban on independent mass media outlets by the Puppet Administration is, in fact, an effort by the surrogates to put a clout on their failure and shameful fiascos, which they face during confrontations with the Mujahideen in every part of the country.

2. The monopolization of activities of independent mass media outlets by the  Kabul Puppet Administration is a clear-cut violation of norms and regulation of  neutrality,  independence and liberty of speech and has no justification in the light of  national and international laws.

3. The said  unjustified step of the Kabul Puppet Administration, defacto,  originates from the anti-human attitude of their masters i.e.  the Americans, who are bent on imposing their dictatorship and the so-called abhorrent liberty on  independent nations.

4. The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan while  inviting  all activists  of mass media to accurately   publish ground realities,  highly appreciates the courageous efforts of the fact-finding and investigative journalists, reporters and  photographers who continue their duty to reflect the ground realities of the Afghans issue despite threats and obstacles that they are facing in their way.

5. The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, pertinent to its previous request, urges all employees of independent and neutral media outlets to initially  observe the losses inflicted on the invaders by the Mujahideen and the destruction caused to   public properties by the invaders and then transmit or publish their reports for the judgment of the public of the world.  This as a part of their obligation to fulfill their journalistic  mission and convey  the true picture of events to the people of the world without any inclination to support the aggression of the invaders. 

News reports published by the pro-Taliban website, http://alemarah.info/english/ :

Two Americans shot dead in Garmsir, 7 coalition soldiers sustain loss of life and injuries

Wednesday, 03 March 2010 10:33 By Qari Yousuf Ahmadi

 HELMAND, Mar. 03, 2010 -

Mujahideen of the Islamic Emirate opened firing at a group of U.S soldiers while the soldiers were conducting a house-to-house search in Basir Khan village in the outskirt of Garmsir district of Helmand province on Tuesday, killing two Americans and hurting another two.
Also Tuesday, 7 coalition soldiers were killed when an IED blast tore through a group of on foot soldiers in Katowri village in the outskirt of the Garmsir district, said the witness.

Italian officer, seven soldiers killed in Badghis battle

Tuesday, 02 March 2010 19:51 By Zabihullah Mujahid

BADGHIS,

Mar. 02, 2010 -

Mujahideen of the Islamic Emirate, in a face-to-to face fighting with allied troops, killed 7 Italian soldiers including an officer 2 women in Murghab district of Badghis province, on Tuesday.
According to the Mujahideen from the region, the battle took place in Ludianu, the same area where there had been clash between Mujahideen ad the coalition troops a day earlier.
The fighting continued for about 3 hours in which a tank of the coalitions was exploded by a roadside bomb.
The area came under heavy  air strikes from the U.S troops but caused none any harm.

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03 03 10 Two Americans shot dead in Garmsir, 7 coalition soldiers sustain loss of life and injuries

02 03 10 Italian officer, seven soldiers killed in Badghis battle

02 03 10 At least 25 Americans killed as 8 U.S. tanks destroyed in Marjah

02 03 10 Mujahideen fight British troops near Lashkar Gah

02 03 10 Dozens die as three American military tanks eliminated in bombings in Marjah

02 03 10 Blast in Helmand kills three U.S soldiers, injures another three

02 03 10 Mortars hit U.S base in Laghman

02 03 10 Four NATO-led coalition soldiers killed, four injured in Badghis battle

02 03 10 5 U.S.-led coalition soldiers killed in Helmand

01 03 10 Kandahar blast kills 22 policemen and officials

01 03 10 Blast kills thee Britons, injures two in Kandahar

01 03 10 Heavy fighting breaks out in Zhari

01 03 10 Remote-controlled bomb blows up police vehicle in Kandahar

01 03 10 Martyr bomb attack kills 11 NATO soldiers near Kandahar

01 03 10 Another policeman killed in Kandahar

01 03 10 Two Spanish soldiers killed in Badghis

01 03 10 Mujahideen capture 4 soldiers of Afghan army in