Suicide attacks kill 19 in Afghanistan

Suicide attacks kill 19 in Afghanistan

10 Apr 2012 09:31

Source: reuters // Reuters

An Afghan quick reaction force policeman keeps guard during a protest in Herat province February 24, 2012. REUTERS/Mohammad Shoib

(Adds Helmand attack, lifts toll, changes slug)

HERAT, Afghanistan April 10 (Reuters) - Suicide bombers killed at least nineteen people in attacks across Afghanistan on Tuesday, including 11 Afghan police, as insurgents ramped up violence ahead of the traditional summer fighting months.

Two bombers, including one wearing a head-to-toe covering burqa, blew up a car laden with explosives on the airport road outside the western city of Herat, killing eight civilians and three police, provincial governor spokesman Mohiddin Noori said.

Twenty-three people were wounded in the attack, which took place in a usually peaceful part of the country near the border with Iran.

In volatile southern Helmand province, three suicide attackers targeted the district governor's office in Musa Qala district, killing eight police. Two of the bombers were shot dead, but one managed to detonate explosives.

"The first one opened fire on Afghan police. In response he was killed by our forces, while the second one detonated himself and police killed the third," said Dawood Ahmadi, spokesman for the Helmand provincial governor.

A NATO spokesman on Monday said insurgents had so far shown no sign of planning a repeat of last year's unified spring offensive against foreign and Afghan forces, preferring isolated attacks on small units and bases.

The Afghan Taliban claimed responsibility for the Helmand attack, saying it had been targeting the district governor and police chief, as well as other government officials.

"Our Mujahidin are resisting and have brought huge fatalities to the enemy," Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi said.

The Taliban last year launched "Operation Badr" - named after a famous seventh century victory by the Prophet Mohammed - vowing to target NATO military bases, convoys and Afghan government officials, as well as foreign companies.

They mounted high profile suicide attacks on heavily-guarded Afghan and foreign bases in the months after, culminating in a September attack on the U.S. embassy compound in Kabul by militants who occupied a nearby building site.

NATO's spokesman, German Brigadier General Carsten Jacobson, said last year's attacks, including the assassination of the head of the Afghan government peace council in charge of reconciliation efforts, had failed to revitalise the insurgency.

But the Taliban may be emboldened with the planned post-summer withdrawal of 23,000 U.S. soldiers, and with 2012 being the final year of NATO's surge in troop numbers ahead of the pullout of most combat troops by end-2014. (Reporting by Sharafuddin Sharafyar in HERAT and Abdul Malek in HELMAND, Writing by Rob Taylor and Amie Ferris-Rotman; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)

=====

Bomb explodes in Afghan govt. office

LAST UPDATE

Tue, 10 Apr 2012 06:36:32 GMT

A bomb explosion has hit a government office in Afghanistan's western Herat province, killing at least 11 people, Press TV reports.

According to police officials, the incident occurred on Tuesday after two bombers rammed their vehicle into a local government building in Guzara district of the province.

Three policemen and eight civilians were killed in the explosion.

More than 21 people, including police forces as well as civilians, were also wounded in the powerful blast that caused heavy damage to the compound and nearby buildings.

Spokesman of Herat Police Department Nourkhan Nikzad told Press TV that security forces opened fire on the car after the bombers refused to stop the car at the entrance of the building.

The Taliban have claimed responsibility for the attack.

Insecurity continues to climb across Afghanistan despite the presence of thousands of US-led forces in the Asian country.

The United Nations announced on February 4 that 2011 was the deadliest year on record for Afghan civilians. The death toll climbed by eight percent compared to the previous year and was roughly double the figure for 2007.