GARDEZ: A car packed with explosives exploded on Tuesday as it sped through a crowded market in Afghanistan's eastern province of Paktika, killing at least 89 people, officials said, one of the most violent attacks in the country in a year.
The huge explosion took place not far from the porous border with Pakistan's North Waziristan region, where the military has been attacking hideouts of the Taliban in the past few weeks, prompting militants to retreat towards Afghanistan.
"The number of victims may increase," said General Zahir Azimi, a defence ministry spokesman.
The attack comes at an uneasy time in Afghanistan as the country recounts votes from a disputed presidential election which the Taliban have vowed to disrupt.
But the Taliban distanced themselves from Tuesday's attack.
The movement's leader have ordered militants not to target civilians. "The truth behind this attack will become clear after an investigation, but we clearly announce that it was not done by the Mujahedeen of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan," Zabihullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman, said in a statement. "The Mujahedeen do not conduct such attacks and such attacks do not bring any benefit to them."
A local deputy police chief, Nissar Ahmad Abdulrahimzai, told Reuters that police had been tipped about the car and were chasing it when it exploded. "The explosion was so big it destroyed many shops.
Dozens of people are trapped under the roofs," Mohammad Raza Kharoti, the district governor, told Reuters. "The number of wounded will rise to more than 100 and the number of those martyred will also increase."
In Kabul, a remote control bomb concealed by a roadside killed two employees of President Hamid Karzai's media office and wounded five, police said. The Taliban claimed responsibility.
The attacks took place as foreign troops are gradually withdrawing from the country. The United Nations said last week civilian casualties jumped by almost a quarter in the first half of this year as hostilities escalate.
COMMENTS (21)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ
@James In short, we DON'T. We know our history and heritage very well and we are proud of it. my advice would be, watch less anti Pakistan videos uploaded by Indian users. PS once for all, no one is going to merge with anyone.
@Safwan: Doesn't Pakistan claim to be linked to Arab ancestry,thereby disowning any linkage to Indus valley.Afghanistan as a nation has existed longer than Pakistan,so if you do merge prepare to change Pakistan to Afghanistan
@csmann: Once again you pretend to know who caused the 89 deaths. Also, who made the statement of 1,0000 Afghans for every ISAF soldier?. I think the Taliban killed 3 ISAF soldiers last week. Does this mean 2911 Afghans have to go within a week or so? Can you see how ridiculous your submission sounds?
@ Qadri the great
Thanks but no thanks. Let's try to be good neighbors and leave things at that. Afghans have faced mightier adversaries since 1747 and always found a way out of every crisis and they will find a way out of the current situation as well.
@Qadri the Great. As some one has already mentioned Afghan rulers used to collect royalty from the areas in current Pakistan. Punjab was independent from time to time such as the Sikh rule for 50 years. Peshawar used to the winter capital for the rulers of Kabul. Note that Quetta and NWFP was given to the British after the second Anglo-Afghan war around 1880.
Good luck if you can tame the Afghan tribals, now Taliban; it is likely to the other way around.
But the Taliban distanced themselves from Tuesday’s attack. The movement’s leader have ordered militants not to target civilians The good Taliban strikes again!They have even learned to lie through their noses.And they think others will believe them.Taliban have made it a point to kill a thousand Afghans for every ISAF soldier they happen to kill.
@Sudhanshu Swami This is the dumbest comment I have read in a long time. First of of all, let's put aside the stupidity of your suggestion that the bigger country joins the smaller country and takes the name of the smaller country. You said 'Pakistan has no history' Are you kidding me? You mean, Sindh, Punjab, Kashmir have no history? The people living in these lands are Afghans? This is the land where the Indian civilization was born(the Indus civilization)! Never, ever forget that. Sure, Pakistan as political federation is something new, but never ever forget that, this land and its forefathers are South Asia cultural and historical 'baap'.
@Sudhanshu Swami: Absolutely agree with you. Anyway, people of Pakistan are not interested in Western Systems like Democracy etc. and they want to be ruled by Sharia laws and who better can implement Sharia than Taliban. Sooner or later, Pakistanis would have their wishes come true of being ruled by a "Khalifa".
@Raj - USA: Dear Raj, Your doubtful justification of the Gaza death toll by the Israelis was a little sick. In a week the Gaza dead and severely wounded was about 2,000, and water, sewage and electricity supplies reduced to virtually zero. I do not know the total number of destroyed houses, but they are considerable. I will not go into the illegal weaponry used by the Israelis. Also, and thus far, we do not know who was responsible for the death toll in Paktika, but if the West had stayed out of Afghanistan it may not have happened.
The enemies of peace continue to prey upon innocent lives for the sake of achieving their deadly agenda. As the nation of Afghanistan continues to rebuild and take steps toward a bright future, the terrorists on the other hand are doing everything in their power to halt the progress. So far, terrorists’ attempts to dispirit the nation of Afghanistan have simply failed. We send our condolences to the friends and families of all those who died in this act of terror. We pray that they will find the strength to get through this tragedy. We remain optimistic in regards to the future of Afghanistan, and have full confidence in ANSF ability to negate the threat of terrorism.
Ali Khan Digital Engagement Team, USCENTCOM
@QADRI THE GREAT: Thanks you but neither Afghans are very excited for your noble proposal and nether are Pakistanis. We would rather send back 3 million Afghans from our land.
@Raj - USA: So by your logic, this gives liscence to the world to condone STATE terror of Israel??
Until and unless Afghanistan stops sheltering the talibans this will happen. Selective Taliban policy was the thing of Pakistan but now has changed but seems like Afghan govt has adopted this theory. Afghanistan's Nuristan is the hub of Talibans where these ttp and haqqani groups have ganged up once they realized that Pakistan is no save havens for them anymore.
Pakhtuns are less than half of Afghanistan's population. Why don't you ask the Uzbeks, Tajiks, Hazaras and other groups in Afghanistan who would rather join Tajikistan or Uzbekistan or have their own independent country? Afghanistan would probably prefer to join its ally India before wanting to enter a relationship with any neighboring land. For the last 60 years, Afghanistan has been taking dictation from India with disastrous results for them. Historically Kabul has been ruled by Hindu Rajas in ancient times anyways.
The Afghan Taliban clearly gave statement that they not did that attack , That statement published on bbc page today . However few days back Karzai did one statement which I am putting here ,http://Afghan President Hamid Karzai...ans, in Kabul. Karzai reportedly suspects US hand in recent Afghanistan attacks..
Political pundit have feared that USA have no plan to leave Afghanistan
Just in one day and just in one incidence of bombing of muslims by muslims in the holiest month of the year for the muslims, the muslims have killed over half the number of muslims killed in the 2 weeks of bombing by Israel. No wonder that no country in the world cares when muslims complain on Israel.
@QADRI THE GREAT: i think its better idea to give all pathan areas to afghanistan.
Your 2 nations still be peaceful if treat each other with respect.For peace merging of nations are not the solution
Some people are scared of peace and prosperity . They feel secure with war and mayham . Does anyone know what these bombers want ?
If Afghanistan becomes 5th province of Pakistan, pakhtoon brothers on both side of borders will root out terrorism. When you seperate brothers, there is violance. Together we will be strong. Afghan can have access to sea ports and we can use the $1 trillion of minerals and both countries can prosper.