Afghan insurgency: 13 US troops killed in ‘deadliest ground attack’ in Kabul

Taliban claim responsibility; three Australian military trainers shot dead by Afghan army soldier.

KABUL/WASHINGTON: In the deadliest single ground attack in the 10-year-long Afghan war, 13 American troops operating under Nato were killed in a car bomb attack on a military convoy in the Afghan capital on Saturday. The day also saw the gunning down of three Australian army trainers by an Afghan soldier in the south of the country.

“We can confirm that 13 International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) members have died,” said an Isaf spokesman in Kabul, giving no further details.

A Pentagon spokesman later confirmed all 13 soldiers killed were American. Three civilians and a police officer were also killed in the attack on a convoy of military vehicles, a spokesman for the Afghan interior ministry said.

A Taliban spokesperson claimed responsibility for what he called a suicide attack on a bus carrying foreign troops. “Our suicide bomber, Abdur Rehman Hazarbuz, rammed his vehicle packed with 700 kilogrammes of explosives into the bus in the Darul Amn area of Kabul,” Zabiullah Mujahid said in a statement.

He claimed that the bus was completely destroyed and all 25 people on board were killed.

Excluding aircraft crashes, it was the deadliest single incident for foreign troops since the war began in 2001. In mid-August, 30 US troops, including 25 Special Operations Forces, were killed when their Chinook helicopter was shot down by the Taliban in Wardak province.

Thick black smoke could be seen rising from a fire still raging at the scene, cordoned off by Afghan and Isaf soldiers, while fire hoses were putting out another blaze nearby.

Nato’s coalition forces were seen carrying the charred bodies of some of those killed away on stretchers from the wreckage of the bombed bus.

In the southern Uruzgan province, an Afghan soldier opened fire on foreign forces, killing three Australian army trainers.

The alliance force said two service members were killed and one other later died of his injuries after “an individual wearing an Afghan National Army uniform apparently turned his weapon on Afghan and coalition forces.” It said the shooter was also killed in the incident but gave no further details.

General Abdul Hameed, commander of 205 Atal corps in the south said an Afghan soldier with three years’ experience had carried out the shooting. He said six other Australian troops and one Afghan officer had been wounded.

“At around 8:30 this morning an ANA soldier named Darwish who had been  serving as an ANA soldier for the past three years opened fire on a group of Australian military officers, killing three of them and injuring six others as well as one ANA officer,” said Hameed.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 30^th, 2011.