Afghan suicide blast kills 9, including foreign troops

Bomber may have belonged to Afghan Army: spokesperson.

JALALABAD:

A suicide bomber wearing an army uniform killed five foreign troops and four Afghan soldiers on Saturday in a brazen attack on the Afghan army’s eastern headquarters.

It was the deadliest single incident this year against foreign forces in Afghanistan.

The latest strike was at an army base in the Gambiri desert area in Laghman province, near Jalalabad city.

“Five International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) service members died following an insurgent attack in eastern Afghanistan today,” ISAF said in a statement.

Isaf spokesperson Major Tim James confirmed that the deaths came in the attack on the Afghan army base, but could not comment on the nationalities of those killed, in line with policy. There were over 100 Isaf troops at the base, primarily tasked with mentoring the Afghan army, James said.

Afghanistan’s defence ministry said that four Afghan army personnel were killed and eight people were wounded, including four translators. Spokesman General Mohammad Zahir Azimi added that the ministry was investigating the possibility that the attacker was a member of the Afghan army, rather than someone who simply bought a uniform for the attack.

A Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, claimed responsibility for the attack in a telephone call to AFP and said the attacker had joined the Afghan army a month ago. The blast came a day after the provincial police chief of Kandahar in southern Afghanistan, Khan Mohammad Mujahid, was killed in a suicide bombing claimed by the Taliban in which his two bodyguards also died.



Published in The Express Tribune, April 17^th, 2011.