Bombers killed at least 26 people in two separate attacks in southern Afghanistan yesterday, a day after a Canadian diplomat and two civilians were killed in the area.
An unidentified man drove near a crowd of about 100 people watching a wrestling match at a fair in the Afghan border town of Spinboldak, a key crossing point into southern Pakistan, and detonated explosives strapped to his body, said Kandahar provincial Governor Asadullah Khalid.
"The wrestling match was about to end when the explosion occurred,"' Khalid said.
He said that 20 people were killed, as well as the attacker, and more than 20 were wounded, at least five seriously.
However, Rafiq Tarin, a government administrator in the neighboring Pakistani town of Chaman, said more than 30 people who were injured in the explosion were treated in a hospital there, including many in critical condition.
Earlier, a suicide bomber hurled himself in front of an Afghan army vehicle in the provincial capital, Kandahar, 110 km to the north, killing three Afghan soldiers and two civilians.
Taliban spokesman Mohammad Hanif claimed responsibility for that blast, just hours after President Hamid Karzai had expressed concern about an increase in suicide bombings.
Four Afghan soldiers and 10 civilians were also wounded in the attack in the heart of the city.
"It was a suicide incident," army Captain Habibur Rahman said near the scene, where pieces of flesh and blood were seen.
He said three soldiers were killed, and a hospital doctor said two civilians also died.
One eyewitness, Assadullah, said the bomber appeared to be a teenager.
"I saw a boy of about 15 with an explosives' vest running towards the car and then heard the explosion," he said. "I ran for cover and saw the casualties when I got up."
Speaking at his heavily fortified palace in Kabul, Karzai said increased use of suicide attacks showed Taliban desperation.
However, he added: "They cause insecurity, worry among people ... disrupt life. They are a matter of concern for us ... we will use all means to prevent them."
Sunday's apparent suicide attack on a Canadian military convoy in Kandahar killed 59-year-old Glyn Berry, a veteran Canadian foreign affairs official, and two Afghans. Three Canadian soldiers were wounded, two critically.
The past few months have seen a spate of Taliban suicide attacks, mainly targeting US-led troops and NATO peacekeepers, but they have not caused major casualties among foreign forces.
Security analysts suspect the Taliban has stepped up suicide attacks after seeing al Qaeda's success in Iraq.
The attacks have come at a time when America's NATO allies are due to take over more responsibility from US troops in Afghanistan and Washington is looking to trim its commitment.
The NATO plans have faced some opposition and the Dutch parliament is due to debate on Jan. 25 whether to commit 1,400 more troops to the volatile south, a highly contentious issue in the Netherlands given the dangers.
‘HYANGDO’: A South Korean lawmaker said there was no credible evidence to support rumors that Kim Jong-un has a son with a disability or who is studying abroad South Korea’s spy agency yesterday said that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s daughter, Kim Ju-ae, who last week accompanied him on a high-profile visit to Beijing, is understood to be his recognized successor. The teenager drew global attention when she made her first official overseas trip with her father, as he met with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Analysts have long seen her as Kim’s likely successor, although some have suggested she has an older brother who is being secretly groomed as the next leader. The South Korean National Intelligence Service (NIS) “assesses that she [Kim Ju-ae]
In the week before his fatal shooting, right-wing US political activist Charlie Kirk cheered the boom of conservative young men in South Korea and warned about a “globalist menace” in Tokyo on his first speaking tour of Asia. Kirk, 31, who helped amplify US President Donald Trump’s agenda to young voters with often inflammatory rhetoric focused on issues such as gender and immigration, was shot in the neck on Wednesday at a speaking event at a Utah university. In Seoul on Friday last week, he spoke about how he “brought Trump to victory,” while addressing Build Up Korea 2025, a conservative conference
DEADLOCK: Putin has vowed to continue fighting unless Ukraine cedes more land, while talks have been paused with no immediate results expected, the Kremlin said Russia on Friday said that peace talks with Kyiv were on “pause” as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy warned that Russian President Vladimir Putin still wanted to capture the whole of Ukraine. Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump said that he was running out of patience with Putin, and the NATO alliance said it would bolster its eastern front after Russian drones were shot down in Polish airspace this week. The latest blow to faltering diplomacy came as Russia’s army staged major military drills with its key ally Belarus. Despite Trump forcing the warring sides to hold direct talks and hosting Putin in Alaska, there
North Korea has executed people for watching or distributing foreign television shows, including popular South Korean dramas, as part of an intensifying crackdown on personal freedoms, a UN human rights report said on Friday. Surveillance has grown more pervasive since 2014 with the help of new technologies, while punishments have become harsher — including the introduction of the death penalty for offences such as sharing foreign TV dramas, the report said. The curbs make North Korea the most restrictive country in the world, said the 14-page UN report, which was based on interviews with more than 300 witnesses and victims who had
RSS