TWO EXPLOSIONS NEAR BRITISH DIPLOMATIC OFFICES - NATO SPOKESMAN: 50 Dead Peshawar to Kabul

TWO EXPLOSIONS NEAR BRITISH DIPLOMATIC OFFICES - NATO SPOKESMAN
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Taliban attack on British office in Kabul kills at least nine
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Police remove the body of a colleague at the site of a suicide attack in Kabul Reuters – Police remove the body of a colleague at the site of a suicide attack in Kabul August 19, 2011. REUTERS/Omar …

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Taliban claims Kabul attacks Play Video Afghanistan Video:Taliban claims Kabul attacks Reuters

By Mirwais Harooni – 1 hr 33 mins ago

KABUL (Reuters) – Five Taliban attackers laid siege to a British cultural center in the Afghan capital Friday, killing at least nine people during an hours-long assault on the 92nd anniversary of Afghanistan's independence from British rule.

A suicide bomber in car blew himself up in front of the gate of the British Council in Kabul before dawn, and another car packed with explosives detonated moments later while four attackers, three of them men clad in the burqa headcovering worn by Afghan women, stormed the compound, police said.

Scores of Afghan and NATO troops surrounded a compound strewn with wooden and metal debris while two helicopters hovered on watch above as the fighting progressed over at least eight hours, interspersed by a total of eight blasts.

Toward the end, the last of the four attackers who fought into the compound holed himself up in the bulletproof basement of the shattered building. There was only one option left to get him out, authorities said: blow him up.

A Reuters witness heard two big blasts in close succession near the siege's end, around 1 p.m. Kabul time (4:30 a.m. EDT).

"Eight members of the Afghan national police and one foreign soldier were killed," Mohammad Zahir, head of criminal investigations for the Kabul police, told Reuters. He said he was not able to confirm the nationality of the foreign soldier.

A ministry of interior spokesman said at least 16 people were wounded in the attack on the British Council, a state-funded agency running mainly cultural programs. It is not part of the main British embassy in Kabul's diplomatic zone.

Two British nationals and one South African were inside the compound during the attack, but were later rescued by an elite Afghan unit, British Ambassador to Afghanistan Sir William Patey told a press conference.

"This was a dastardly(owardly), cowardly attack designed to attack British interests, but ultimately ending in the deaths of many Afghans and we regret the death of the Afghans," Patey said, adding that the attack was over.

Kabul police chief Mohammad Ayob Salongi said four Afghan police, three Nepalese British Council guards and one Afghan street cleaner were killed. He too had no details on the nationality of the foreign soldier.

WARNING TO LONDON

A Reuters photograph taken at the scene showed what appeared to be a white male being lifted onto a stretcher with blood across his back and wound to the back of his head. A second photo showed a Union Jack insignia on his left shoulder, and a different uniform than those warn by council's guards.

"There's no confirmation on whether the foreign soldier who was wounded was killed," Patey said, also declining to reveal the nationality.

The Taliban said they were sending two messages: "One to the Afghan government and one to the British," spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told Reuters by phone.

"We are now reminding them that we will become independent again from all foreigners, especially from the British," Mujahid said, referring to Afghanistan's independence from British rule 92 years ago, which the country was marking on Friday amid heightened security.

After the United States, Britain has the second-largest force in the NATO-led war against the Taliban, with around 9,500 troops.

Mujahid declined to say how many bombers the Islamist group used for the attacks, which come a month after NATO handed over security responsibilities to the Afghans in several areas across the country, as part of a gradual transition process to be completed by the end of 2014.

Afghan forces have been given responsibility for the city of Kabul since 2008, when NATO handed over security control, but in reality NATO forces still police the area heavily.

There is growing unease in the United States and Europe about the costly and increasingly violent war that has dragged on for 10 years, causing U.S. lawmakers to question whether bringing home all combat troops by 2014 is fast enough.

NATO and the United States earlier this year reluctantly backed Kabul's peace plan, which involves reconciliation with some members of the Taliban. The Taliban have repeatedly said they will not negotiate with the Afghan government until all foreign forces have stopped fighting in their country.

(Additional reporting by Amie Ferris-Rotman; Writing by Bryson Hull)

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Pakistan mosque suicide blast kills 40

Fida Khattak ----> Aug 19th, 2011 // No Comment
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Peshawar: A suicide bomber blew himself up in a mosque in Khyber Agency, killing at least 40 people and injuring over 100 on Friday.

According to sources, the blast took place in a mosque in Ghondi area of Tehseel Jamrud in Kyber Agency when Namazis were coming out of the mosque after offering Friday prayer.

An eye witness told The News Tribe that the bomber was clad in black outfit and detonated explosives strapped to his body when over 400 people were offering prayer .

The sources said that roof top of the mosque collapsed following the blast.They said that several people were trapped under the debris and locals were trying to recover them.

The dead and injured were being shifted to Peshawar for medical treatment as ample facilities were not available in a local hospital. 12 bodies and 50 injured were taken to Hayat Abad Medical Complex while four injured were shifted to Lady Reading Hospital.

The sources added that some of the injured were in critical condition.

Heavy contingent of security forces rushed to the spot and cordoned off the area.

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By RIAZ KHAN, Associated Press – 20 mins ago

PESHAWAR, Pakistan – A suicide bomber struck a mosque in a Pakistani tribal region during Friday prayers, officials said, killing at least 40 people and wounding 85 others in the deadliest attack in the country in recent weeks.

The attack came during the holy month of Ramadan, a time of fasting, sharing and heightened community spirit for Muslims.

No group immediately claimed responsibility, but the Taliban and other Islamist militants have previously targeted mosques, especially if they believe enemies — such as army soldiers or anti-militant tribesmen — are using the facilities.

The mosque hit Friday is in Ghundi, a village in the Khyber tribal region, a part of Pakistan's tribal belt. Khyber has long been a base for Islamist militants, and the Pakistani army has waged multiple operations aimed at pacifying the region but with limited success.

Khyber also is a key region for the U.S. and NATO, because a large portion of non-lethal supplies heading to U.S. forces in Afghanistan passes through it.

Some 300 people had gathered for prayers Friday afternoon in the Sunni mosque, and many were on their way out when the explosion occurred, local administrator Iqbal Khan said.

"All the evidence we have gathered confirms that it is a suicide attack," said Fazal Khan, another local official who also confirmed the casualty figures. He said witnesses alleged the bomber was a young man.

Saleem Khan, 21, said people panicked after the blast, and that amid the smoke, cries and blood, several ran over him when he fell.

"Whoever did it in the holy month of Ramadan cannot be a Muslim," he said from a hospital bed in the main northwest city of Peshawar. "It is the cruelest thing any Muslim would do."

TV footage from the scene showed a heavily damaged building. Prayer caps, shoes and green prayer mats were scattered across a blood-splattered floor, while ceiling fans were twisted and walls blackened. Men comforted a young boy who wept as he held his hand to his heart.

The attack appeared to be the deadliest since twin bombings in mid-June killed around 40 people in Peshawar. That attack was believed to be part of a wave of bombings staged by militants to retaliate over the U.S. killing of al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden in May.

The Pakistani Taliban and their affiliates stage attacks in Pakistan because they oppose Islamabad's alliance with the United States.

Also Friday, two U.S. missiles struck a house in a tribal region that was once a Pakistani Taliban stronghold, killing four people, intelligence officials said.

The strike came as Pakistani-U.S. relations are struggling since the unilateral American raid that killed bin Laden in the northwest Pakistani garrison town of Abbottabad. The continued missile attacks, which Pakistan officially opposes, suggests Washington considers the tactic too valuable to give up.

Though Pakistan objects to the covert, CIA-run missile program, it is believed to have aided it at times. The U.S. rarely acknowledges the program.

The two missiles hit a house Friday in Sheen Warsak village in the South Waziristan tribal area, according to two Pakistani intelligence officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to reporters.

The identities of the dead were not immediately clear. Although U.S. officials insist the vast majority of victims in the strikes are militants, Pakistanis and some human rights activists have said civilians are often caught up in the attacks.

South Waziristan is a lawless stretch of rugged territory that was largely under the control of the Pakistani Taliban until October 2009, when the country's army launched an operation against the insurgents. However, militant activity is still occasionally reported in the region.

It is nearly impossible to independently verify the information from the region because access is heavily restricted.

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Associated Press writers Asif Shahzad and Rasool Dawar contributed to this report from Islamabad.
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Up to 60 Afghan Taliban killed in NATO base attack

09 Nov 2011 08:22
Source: Reuters // Reuters

* Provincial government reports heavy Taliban losses

* NATO force confirms attack on base in southeast

* No reports of coalition, civilian casualties (Adds background)

KABUL, Nov 9 (Reuters) - Afghan and NATO-led troops killed 50 to 60 Taliban fighters during an attack by insurgents on a base in a volatile southeastern Afghan province near the border with Pakistan, a provincial government spokesman said on Wednesday.

The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) confirmed there had been an attack on a base in the Barmal district of southeastern Paktika province late on Tuesday.

Mukhlis Afghan, a spokesman for the Paktika governor, put the number of Taliban fighters killed at between 50 and 60.

An ISAF spokesman said a large group of insurgents attacked the ISAF base using small arms and rocket-propelled grenades. ISAF troops fought back, causing "significant" casualties among the insurgents.

He said two buildings used by insurgents were destroyed in the fighting, which included ISAF air strikes, but said there had been no reports of civilian or coalition casualties.

Paktika province lies on the border with the Pakistani tribal area of North Waziristan, where the Taliban and allied insurgents like the Haqqani network have safe havens from which they launch attacks into Afghanistan.

Paktika and neighbouring Paktia ands Zabul have been hit by a number of attacks this year.

ISAF troops and Afghan special forces killed more than 50 insurgents in Paktika during an operation in July to clear a training camp that ISAF said the Haqqanis had been using as a base for foreign fighters.

In September, a bomb killed six civilians in Paktika. The Taliban claimed responsibility for an attack there in March when three suicide bombers killed 24 construction workers.

Despite the presence of about 130,000 foreign troops, violence across Afghanistan remains at its worst levels since the Taliban were toppled by U.S.-backed Afghan forces 10 years ago, according to the United Nations.

On Sunday, at least seven civilians were killed and 15 wounded by a suicide bomber in an attack on a mosque in northern Baghlan province soon after prayers for the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha.

ISAF says there has been a fall in the number of attacks by insurgents recently, but that data excludes attacks that kill only civilians, and attacks on Afghan security forces operating without international troops. (Reporting by Mirwais Harooni, Jan Harvey, Elyas Wahdat and Christine Kearney; Writing by Jan Harvey; Editing by Paul Tait)

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Four killed as governor’s office attacked in Afghanistan
By Nasir Khan - Nov 11th, 2011 (No Comment)
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Kabul: Suicide bombers targeted the office of a governor in Afghanistan’s eastern province of Paktia, killing at least four security personnel were dead on Thursday.
A group of suicide attackers, equipped with modern weapons and bombs stormed the offices in the Samkani district of Paktia.
Afghan officials said all of the attackers were killed in the clash.
A meeting between government and Nato officials was ongoing at the time of the attack.
One eyewitness, tribal elder Haji Mohammad Essa, told the BBC: ”I was sitting with the district governor when I heard a loud explosion.
“Some elders had come to ask the district governor and officials for security because some of them are nominated to come to Loya Jirga [tribal council].”
Two of the attackers detonated their explosive vests once inside the walls of the headquarters while the other two became involved in a firefight with police officers during which at least three security officers were killed.
Afghan officials said a bodyguard was among those killed in the attack.
The US military in Afghanistan said two coalition soldiers were wounded in the attack.
A mosque was also destroyed I a missile attack of coalition forces.
Paktia’s deputy governor allowed the forces to fire at the mosque from where the attackers were allegedly firing at the office.
A Taliban group has claimed the responsibility of the attack on the governor’s offices.
Many of those present were due to attend the Loya Jirga – being held in Kabul next week – and the Taliban had pledged to target anyone involved in the meeting.
The meeting is to discuss a strategy for making peace with the Taliban and the country’s relationship with the US.
Meanwhile, in the south of the country, Afghan police said a remote-controlled car bomb exploded near a Nato convoy, killing two Afghan men and wounding a young girl, AP reported.