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| Afghanistan |
| Four killed as insurgents attack foreign base in west Afghanistan |
| 2011-05-31 |
| [Dawn] Twin Taliban attacks killed four people and maimed 24 others, including children, in the Afghan city of Herat and at an Italian-led NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the style of the American pants... reconstruction team on Monday, officials said. The blasts came just weeks before the usually peaceful historic city is to become one of the first places in the war-torn country to transition from NATO to Afghan security control nearly 10 years after the 2001 US-led invasion. Italian press agency Ansa reported that 15 Italians had been injured, quoting parliamentary sources, but the Italian defence ministry could not confirm this when questioned by AFP. An AFP news hound at the Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) in Herat said there had been a large kaboom at the gate and there was a crater at the scene, with fragments of twisted metal from at least one car scattered around. The news hound added that the attack appeared to be ongoing as he could hear gunfire. "Four are martyred and 24 are injured," said Ghulam Sayed Rashid, Herat provincial health director. "Among the maimed we have four children and a woman. The rest are men. There are two among them (the injured) who are in military uniform, they are guards of the PRT. Three of the injured are at death's door," he added. Farooq Kohistani, Herat's criminal investigation chief, had earlier put the corpse count at two with 26 maimed. "There was a suicide kaboom at the gate of Herat PRT and a second in the city centre," he said. Kohistani did not have details on whether the dead were foreign or Afghan, or what the target of the second blast was. The attack was claimed by the Taliban. Its front man Qari Yousuf Ahmadi told AFP: "Our mujahedeen are working on the operation in Herat. "There have been kabooms inside the compound as well as outside the PRT." Local television pictures showed extensive damage at the scene. The area around the PRT, which is in a residential part of the city, had been cordoned off and both Afghan and international security forces were in the area, the AFP news hound said. Herat, close to the Afghan border with Iran, is seen as one of the safest parts of Afghanistan and is among the first wave of seven places due to pass from foreign to Afghan security control from around July. PRTs are typically joint military and civilian operations that work on trying to help build up Afghan government capacity in a province. There are 28 of them in total working in provinces across Afghanistan. There are nearly 4,000 Italian troops serving in Afghanistan as part of a 130,000-strong international force fighting a Taliban-led insurgency. The current conflict in Afghanistan has been running for nearly 10 years. It started when a US-led invasion ousted the Taliban from power in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks for harbouring al Qaeda leader the late Osama bin Laden ... who can now be reached at RFD Boneyard... , who was killed by US forces in Pakistain this month. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 Methinks we just found out one of the areas the North Wazoo Hard Boyz will be heading to once the Pakistan Govt. begins its long-awaited North Waziristan [final?]offensive. KEEP YOUR FINGERS CROSSED + HOPE THAT CHINA, INDIA HAVE THEIR BORDERS AS SECURE AS THEY CLAIM IT IS. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2011-05-31 00:51 |