Taliban attack: 21 dead in Afghanistan
Five hours of fighting ensues following blasts targeting governor’s compound.
KANDAHAR:
Heavy gun battles ensued right after multiple suicide blasts rocked Afghanistan in one of the deadliest attacks to hit the war-torn country in over a month.
Authorities reported 21 casualties, including a BBC reporter.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for what the authorities were calling a “coordinated attack” that began with suicide bombers targeting official buildings in Trinkot, the local capital of the Southern Afghan province of Uruzgan, and the base of militia commander who provides security to Nato convoys moving towards the country’s beset South.
The five hours of fighting were triggered after insurgents detonated a car bomb outside the deputy provincial governor’s compound close to the main hospital in Trinkot, a provincial government spokesman told AFP. The assault was launched from a radio and television office where 25-year-old BBC reporter Ahmed Omed Khpulwak was killed.
According to Afghanistan’s interior ministry, seven suicide attackers attacked different locations in Trinkot and a motorcycle bomb was detonated through a remote control outside the police headquarters.
The deadly assault comes at a critical juncture in the nearly 10-year war as thousands of US surge troops prepare to go home and other Western nations announce limited drawdowns.
“As a result of these savage attacks of the enemies of Afghanistan, 21 people including three policemen were martyred, and 38 others including three policemen were injured,” the Afghan interior ministry said in a statement.
Provincial government spokesman Milad Modaser said the fighting ended five hours after the attack began at noon.
Modaser said gunmen raided the Uruzgan radio and television station and from there attacked the base of Matiullah Khan, a well-known militia commander whose fighters protect Nato convoys on the highway from Uruzgan to Kandahar city.
An army spokesman in the southern region, Hekmatullah Kuchi, said one of the blasts at the deputy governor’s office was caused by a suicide bomber, and a second was caused by an Afghan soldier shooting another suicide attacker.
The BBC in London confirmed that Khpulwak, who joined the corporation in 2008, had been killed.
“The sympathies of the BBC and all of his colleagues go to Ahmed Omed’s family and friends,” BBC Global News director Peter Horrocks said.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 29th, 2011.
Heavy gun battles ensued right after multiple suicide blasts rocked Afghanistan in one of the deadliest attacks to hit the war-torn country in over a month.
Authorities reported 21 casualties, including a BBC reporter.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for what the authorities were calling a “coordinated attack” that began with suicide bombers targeting official buildings in Trinkot, the local capital of the Southern Afghan province of Uruzgan, and the base of militia commander who provides security to Nato convoys moving towards the country’s beset South.
The five hours of fighting were triggered after insurgents detonated a car bomb outside the deputy provincial governor’s compound close to the main hospital in Trinkot, a provincial government spokesman told AFP. The assault was launched from a radio and television office where 25-year-old BBC reporter Ahmed Omed Khpulwak was killed.
According to Afghanistan’s interior ministry, seven suicide attackers attacked different locations in Trinkot and a motorcycle bomb was detonated through a remote control outside the police headquarters.
The deadly assault comes at a critical juncture in the nearly 10-year war as thousands of US surge troops prepare to go home and other Western nations announce limited drawdowns.
“As a result of these savage attacks of the enemies of Afghanistan, 21 people including three policemen were martyred, and 38 others including three policemen were injured,” the Afghan interior ministry said in a statement.
Provincial government spokesman Milad Modaser said the fighting ended five hours after the attack began at noon.
Modaser said gunmen raided the Uruzgan radio and television station and from there attacked the base of Matiullah Khan, a well-known militia commander whose fighters protect Nato convoys on the highway from Uruzgan to Kandahar city.
An army spokesman in the southern region, Hekmatullah Kuchi, said one of the blasts at the deputy governor’s office was caused by a suicide bomber, and a second was caused by an Afghan soldier shooting another suicide attacker.
The BBC in London confirmed that Khpulwak, who joined the corporation in 2008, had been killed.
“The sympathies of the BBC and all of his colleagues go to Ahmed Omed’s family and friends,” BBC Global News director Peter Horrocks said.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 29th, 2011.