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| Afghanistan |
| Suicide bomber kills five at Afghan checkpoint |
| 2009-08-19 |
| [Dawn] A suicide bomber walked up to a military checkpoint and blew himself up in southern Afghanistan on Tuesday, killing five people just days ahead of nationwide elections, police said. The casualties from the attack in the remote province of Uruzgan included three Afghan soldiers and two civilians, provincial police chief Juma Gul Hemat told AFP. 'Today there was a suicide bombing carried out by an individual on foot. As a result three soldiers and two civilians were killed,' the police chief said. Five other people, including civilians were wounded, he added. The attack happened at the military post in Chora district 35 kilometres northeast of Tirin Kot, the provincial capital of Uruzgan. The attack comes two days before war-weary Afghans go to polling stations to chose a new leader in the troubled country's second presidential election and elect 420 representatives for the 34 provincial councils. Western officials have predicted turnout this week could be as high as 60 per cent in the relatively peaceful north compared with 40 per cent in the south, where Taliban threats against voters could see many people stay away. Hemat claimed Afghan security forces had killed more than 30 Taliban militants in the immediate run-up to Thursday polls with operations ongoing in three districts of Uruzgan, where thousands of forces would protect voting. 'There will be 4,500 troops (Afghan and foreign) providing security for the elections. There are 49 polling centres that all will be open,' he said. |
| Posted by:Fred |