Afghan suicide blast kills eight U.S. civilians

30 Dec 2009 19:52:25 GMT
Source: Reuters
(Adds that dead were civilians)

KABUL, Dec 30 (Reuters) - Eight American civilians were killed in a suicide attack on a military base in Afghanistan's southeastern Khost province on Wednesday, U.S. officials said.

"We can confirm that there was an explosion in Khost province and eight Americans have been killed," a U.S. official in Kabul said on condition of anonymity.

No U.S. or NATO troops were injured in the blast at Forward Operating Base Chapman in Khost province, said a U.S. defense official who declined to be named.

Attacks in Afghanistan this year have spiralled to their highest levels since the Taliban were overthrown by U.S.-backed Afghan forces in late 2001.

Washington is sending 30,000 extra troops to Afghanistan in an attempt to stem the mounting violence, with NATO allies also contributing thousands more.

Civilian and military casualty tolls have reached record levels this year, with suicide attackers even targeting United Nations employees at a guesthouse in the heart of Kabul.

Khost, on the Pakistani border, is one of the areas of Afghanistan where the Taliban insurgency is strongest, and most foreigners there are troops or working under military protection.

In late September a suicide bomber rammed a car into a military convoy of foreign forces there, killing one American. (Reporting by Jonathon Burch; Editing by Charles Dick)

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Updated at: 0630 PST, Thursday, December 31, 2009
MONTREAL: Five Canadians -- four soldiers and a journalist -- were killed Tuesday in Afghanistan by a bomb that exploded as their armored vehicle passed by, a Canadian general announced Wednesday.

General Daniel Menard, the head of Canadian forces in Afghanistan, announced the deaths on Canadian television without naming the victims.

Public television station identified the journalist killed as Michelle Lang, a reporter with the Calgary Herald.

"Yesterday Canada lost five citizens," Menard said. "Four soldiers and one journalist were killed as a result of an improvised explosive device attack on their armored vehicle during a community patrol in Kandahar City."

Menard said a Canadian civilian official was also injured in attack.


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CIA probes Afghan base security after bomber kills 7
31 Dec 2009 21:43:34 GMT
Source: Reuters
(For more on the war in Afghanistan and Pakistan, click on [ID:nNAFPAK)

* CIA vows more aggressive operations against militants

* Seven CIA officers killed, six wounded - CIA

* Obama mourns loss, deadliest for CIA since 1983 (Adds State Department comment)

By Adam Entous and Jonathon Burch

WASHINGTON/KABUL, Dec 31 (Reuters) - The CIA vowed on Thursday to avenge the deaths of seven officers in a suicide bombing in Afghanistan and to investigate security breaches that allowed the second deadliest attack in agency history.

The Taliban claimed the attacker was a sympathizer from the Afghan army who detonated a vest of explosives at a meeting with CIA workers on Wednesday. An Afghan was also killed and six CIA employees were wounded, U.S. officials said.

"This deadly attack was carried out by a valorous(Marked by or possessing great personal bravery; valiant ) Afghan army member," Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told Reuters.

In a letter to CIA employees, U.S. President Barack Obama mourned the deaths of those he said "served in the shadows." The death toll was the intelligence agency's highest since eight employees were killed in a bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut in 1983.

The chief of the CIA base was among the dead, according to a former intelligence official. "We fully expected to lose agents, but to lose so many all at once is a huge shock to the system and is very troubling,"

he said.

The attack took place inside Forward Operating Base Chapman, a well fortified base in Khost province near the southeastern border with Pakistan, where the CIA has been stepping up operations to battle a resurgent Taliban.

The bombing highlighted the insurgency's reach and coordination at a time when violence has reached its highest levels since the overthrow of the Taliban regime by U.S.-backed Afghan forces in 2001.

CIA Director Leon Panetta said the deaths would not deter the agency.

"This attack will be avenged through successful, aggressive counterterrorism operations,"

a U.S. intelligence official said on condition of anonymity. [ID:nN32902832]

U.S. State Department spokeswoman Julie Reside said plans to increase the U.S. civilian presence in Afghanistan remained on track and that security would continue to be a primary concern.

Also on Wednesday, five Canadians -- four soldiers and a journalist -- were killed when their armored vehicle was hit by a bomb in southern Kandahar province, the Canadian Defence Ministry said. [ID:nN30233626]

TRUSTING AFGHAN FORCES

The Afghan Defense Ministry rejected the Taliban's claim that an Afghan soldier was involved in the attack and said none were stationed at the base. But a spokesman for NATO-led forces in Afghanistan acknowledged Afghan security forces were working there. [ID:nSGE5BU05A]

If the bomber does prove to be from the army, it would mark the second deadly attack in three days on foreign troops and officials by Afghan soldiers being groomed to eventually take over the nation's security. [ID:nLDE5BU0C0]

Obama has started deploying 30,000 extra troops to tackle the violence and NATO allies are contributing thousands more.

The surge is scheduled to be scaled back starting in 2011 as the United States gradually hands security province by province over to the Afghans.

Security lapses at U.S. bases have been in the spotlight since a U.S. army psychiatrist allegedly killed 13 people in a Nov. 5 shooting spree at the Fort Hood army base in Texas.

One U.S. official, speaking on condition he not be named, pointed to the Fort Hood incident as evidence

that problems spotting potentially dangerous personnel were not limited to Afghanistan.

"Any time you have an incident like this, it gives you an opportunity to evaluate a whole range of things, whether it's vetting procedures, whether it's security procedures, whether it's intel, whether it's physical security,"

he said.

The CIA did not say how long its investigation would take.

"There's still a lot to be learned about what happened. The key lesson is that counterterrorism work is dangerous,"

a CIA spokesman said.

The blast that killed the five Canadians struck the patrol as it was visiting reconstruction projects near Kandahar.

The journalist killed, Michelle Lang, 34, was on her first assignment in Afghanistan. She is the third journalist to die in Afghanistan this year. (Additional reporting by Ismail Sameem in Kandahar, Sayed Saluhuddin in Kabul, Phil Stewart and Andrew Quinn in Washington; writing by Phil Stewart, Emma Graham-Harrison; editing by Todd Eastham and Paul Simao)