Toll rises to 57 as survivors tell of Afghan volleyball bombing

Toll rises to 57 as survivors tell of Afghan volleyball bombing By Emal Haidary 1 hour ago  . Afghan security forces arive at the site of another suicide car bomb at the gate of Kabul's Green … Survivors of a horrific suicide attack which killed 57 people at a volleyball game in eastern Afghanistan told Monday how the blast ripped through a crowd of spectators enjoying the final moments of the match. In the country's deadliest single attack since 2011, the bomber detonated his explosives Sunday as hundreds of young men and boys attended a tournament featuring three local teams in the volatile province of Paktika. Separately, two NATO soldiers were killed in an attack in the east of Afghanistan on Monday morning, the coalition said, giving no further details. Paktika provincial spokesman Mukhlis Afghan said in a statement the death toll from Sunday's blast had risen to 57 after 15 people died of their injuries overnight. "The game was about to end when we heard a big bang," Salaam Khan, 19, told AFP at a military hospital in Kabul where he was flown for treatment to his injured chest and right leg. "I was shouting for help. Just beside me was a dead army officer," he said. "There were local police and commanders watching the game. I saw some killed and wounded." Najib Danish, deputy spokesman for the interior ministry, said four local police were among the fatalities, but they did not appear to have been specially targeted. The attack underlined the challenges facing President Ashraf Ghani, who came to power in September, as US-led NATO troops wind down operations and Afghan security forces take over full responsibility for fighting Taliban insurgents. "I was watching the game, sitting on the ground with my brother, when the blast happened," said Mohammad Rasoul, 11, who was wounded in the chest and whose brother was in intensive care. Afghan security forces have struggled to counter Taliban insurgents (AFP Photo/Shah Marai) "People were covered in blood all around me. There were many friends of mine among them." Many of the wounded were children or young men, wrapped in bloody bandages. Doctor Seyawash, head of health services at the hospital in Kabul, told reporters that about 12 victims were in a critical condition. The injuries were from ball bearings packed in the bomb. There was no immediate response from the Taliban, but the insurgents often distance themselves from attacks that claim many civilian lives. The blast, in the Yahya Khail district of Paktika, came at about 5:00 pm (1230 GMT) Sunday as crowds peaked at the volleyball, a popular sport among young men in Afghanistan. - 'Inhumane, un-Islamic' - "I arrived after the bombing, it was an emergency situation. People were rushing the dead and wounded into cars," said Ghulam Mohammad, 60, whose injured grandson cradled a teddy bear in hospital. "I went looking for my son and grandson. My son was fine but my grandson was wounded and we came to Kabul in a helicopter." Late on Sunday President Ghani visited victims at the 400-bed military hospital in the Afghan capital. An Afghan policeman looks at a bomb crater after a suicide attack targeted a vehicle convoy of Afgha … He condemned the attack as "inhumane and un-Islamic", adding that "this kind of brutal killing of civilians cannot be justified". Paktika, one of the most restive provinces in Afghanistan, borders Pakistan's lawless tribal areas, where many insurgent leaders seek refuge from NATO and Afghan forces. Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif denounced the bombing and vowed to fight the "terrorism that is the common enemy of both countries". Paktika was also hit by a massive suicide blast in July, when a bomber driving a truck packed with explosives killed at least 41 people at a busy market in Urgun district. In April last year 46 people -- 36 civilians and 10 troops and police -- were killed in a Taliban attack against the law courts in the western province of Farah. A suicide blast at a shrine in Kabul on the Shiite holy day of Ashura in December 2011 killed 80. Sunday's attack occurred on the same day that the lower house of parliament approved agreements to allow about 12,500 NATO-led troops to stay on next year. US-led NATO combat operations will finish at the end of this year, but the Taliban have launched a series of offensives that have severely tested Afghan soldiers and police. The new NATO mission -- named Resolute Support -- will focus on supporting the Afghan forces, in parallel with US counter-terrorism operations. But fears are growing that Afghanistan could tip into a cycle of violence as the US military presence declines, with the national security forces already suffering huge casualties. ============================= Islamic State fighters battle Iraqi forces near Baiji refinery Tue, Nov 25 09:25 AM EST image 1 of 3 BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Islamic State insurgents battled Iraqi forces in the center of Baiji on Tuesday, a week after the army broke their prolonged siege of the country's largest oil refinery just outside the town, an army officer and residents said. The renewed fighting in Baiji by the Islamist militants, who control thousands of square miles of territory in Iraq and Syria, appeared aimed at reimposing that stranglehold around the sprawling oil facility 2 miles (4 km) to the north. Islamic State (IS) fighters were present in four of Baiji's 12 neighborhoods, as well as areas on the perimeter of the sprawling refinery complex. But the army controlled its southern approaches, preventing insurgents from surrounding it, according to a Baiji resident who toured the area. On Monday an Islamic State video circulated on the Internet showing its fighters denying that they had been driven out of Baiji, and what purported to be two suicide truck bombings targeting the refinery defenses. "Yes, they infiltrated some areas," one of the speakers said, referring to the Iraqi security forces. "But, God willing, either they will withdraw or they will be exterminated." One resident of the town some 200 km (125 miles) north of Baghdad said IS gunmen launched an attack on Monday night in the center of Baiji, advancing into the town's Asri district. There had also been fighting in the Naft and Kahraba neighborhoods. Around the refinery, IS insurgents still held a housing complex on its western edge and were digging trenches in the Makhmour hills overlooking the installation from the north, despite coming under fire from helicopters, the resident said. To the east, he said, insurgents could be seen crossing the nearby Tigris river by boat. Islamic State seized Baiji and surrounded the refinery during a June offensive when it swept south towards the capital Baghdad, capturing cities, farmlands and oilfields and meeting virtually no resistance from Iraq government forces. Shi'ite militias and Kurdish peshmerga, backed by U.S.-led air strikes since August, have helped contain the radical Sunni insurgents and pushed them back in some provinces. But they have continued to make gains in the western Sunni province of Anbar. (Reporting by Raheem Salman; Writing by Dominic Evans; Editing by Michael Georgy/Mark Heinrich) ==================== Peshmerga and Shiite militias vie for control of liberated town By RUDAW 12 hours ago - - ERBIL, Kurdistan Region—Peshmerga forces have asked the Shiite Badr brigade to handover the control of Saadiya in northern Diyala to the Kurds a day after the town was liberated from Islamist militants, a Peshmerga spokesman said. “There is the Badr brigade in Saadiya now and we need to negotiate with them in order to take the town back from that militia force,” Brigadier Ahmed Latif, Peshmerga spokesperson in the area told Rudaw. “They [Shiite militia] helped the Peshmerga in taking back the town,” Latif added. Kurdish Peshmerga forces launched a massive attack on the Islamic State (ISIS) in Jalawla and Saadiya in the early hours of Sunday morning in which 20 Peshmerga fighters were killed and 49 others were wounded. “Many ISIS militants were killed but most of their bodies are lost under the rubble or drowned in Sirwan River,” said Latif. Shiite militia leaders claimed to have played a major role in the offensive, but on Monday the Ministry of Peshmerga said that both towns were “liberated only by the Kurdish Peshmerga forces.” “In Saadiya Iraqi federal troops took part in the offensive, too” Jabar Yawar, Peshmerga ministry chief of staff said in a statement. The Kurdish Peshmerga and Shiite militias have clashed on a few occasions in the past in Tuz Khurmatu and Amerli where militia groups maintain a heavy presence. Meanwhile, Anwar Hussein, the mayor of Jalawla urged residents of both towns to “not hurry in returning to their homes until all bombs and explosives have been cleared by the special teams.” =============