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| Afghanistan |
| Jalalabad explosion kills 26... |
| 2002-08-09 |
| An explosion in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad killed at least 26 people and injured up to 80 yesterday. The blast at a construction camp set several buildings on fire and damaged more than 50 homes, some as far as 500 yards away. It also disrupted the city's electricity network and the power supply for a nearby dam. "The latest [toll] we have is said to be 26 dead and 80 wounded," a Defence Ministry spokesman said. At least 25 of the wounded had severe injuries and many were not expected to survive. Even if it's an industrial accident, the Bad Guys will be claiming it with that many dead... Hazrat Ali, the regional military commander, said the blast appeared to have been caused by a car bomb. But Dr Mohammed Assef Qazi Zada, the deputy governor of Nangarhar province, said the more likely explanation was that it had been caused by industrial explosives. Three employees of the Afghan Construction and Logistics Unit, which ran the site where the blast happened, were arrested and questioned. Officials refused to say whether the three were being treated as Taliban or al-Qa'ida members or sympathisers. I'm hoping it's an industrial accident. OSHA doesn't work in Afghanistan and there are enough boomers running around... |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |
| #2 we agree that the international community must stand strong, by one another, in order to defeat teh international enemy: terror |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2004-2-15 3:18:20 PM |
| #1 Local officials are claiming there were prior indicators of a bombing in the area. When they said "near a dam" I was concerned it was the 11.5MW Breshna-Kot Dam which supplies power for Kabul and which was often targeted during the last 20 years, sometimes by saboteurs and sometimes just the local hill gunnies exacting a little Danegelt. It turns out instead it's near the Darunta complex, one of the more notable al Qaeda training camps. Now, the company "ACLU" seems legit, once set up by USAID, but who knows these days. |
| Posted by: Dan Hartung 2002-08-09 20:39:08 |