A suicide attacker blew up a police bus in Kabul yesterday, killing at least 11 people in a new attack by the extremist Taliban just days after a similar bombing claimed 30 lives in the capital.
The attack in the west of the city ripped off the sides and roof of the bus, which was smeared in blood and flesh, a reporter said. Parts of seats were flung into the trees.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahed said the militia was responsible for the carnage. It also claimed Friday's attack on a defense ministry bus that killed 30 people -- one of the bloodiest bombings of the insurgency.
The attacker, strapped with explosives, had tried to board the bus but a policeman on the vehicle became suspicious and shot him, interior ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary said.
Wounded, the bomber still managed to get onto the first step of the bus and detonate his explosives, Bashary said, citing witnesses.
At least 11 people were killed -- six of them policemen on the bus and five civilians, including three children on their way to school, he said.
Seven people were wounded, including civilians and police.
Witnesses said the final toll was expected to be higher, as none of the other 15 passengers are likely to have survived and passers-by were also caught up in the blast.
A resident of the area, named only Atiqullah, said he heard a "terrible explosion."
"I stepped out of the house and I saw thick, black smoke. When I ran to the blast site, I saw around four civilians, including a woman and a child, who were dead being carried from the scene to a car," the 28-year-old said.
He estimated that 15 people were on the bus and none would have survived.
"I did not have the heart to help take them [the dead] out of the bus. I cannot describe the scene -- blood, bones and flesh. These poor people in this holy month," he said.
The Taliban had vowed a campaign of attacks for the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, which will end in two weeks.
Sayed Mohaiudin Hashami, another witness, who had been waiting for his ride to work, said he also saw the attacker step onto the vehicle.
"Almost everybody on the bus was martyred except three or four people who were wounded that we helped put into civilian vehicles to take them to hospital," said Hashami, who is a government employee.
Health Minister Sayed Mohammad Amin Fatemi said at the scene that it was too early to confirm the number of casualties because the dead and wounded had been taken to different hospitals.
"They are criminals," he said angrily of those behind the attack. "They don't have any respect for human life. We can expect more attacks from them."
Kabul has this year suffered some of its worst attacks since the Taliban were driven from government six years ago in a US-led invasion following the Sept. 11 attacks by al-Qaeda, which was sheltered by the Taliban.
Besides the defense ministry bus explosion, a June suicide attack on a police bus in the heart of the city killed 35 people. It was the bloodiest attack in Afghanistan since the al-Qaeda-linked Taliban began their fight.
The insurgency has escalated every year, with suicide attacks spiralling to more than 110 already this year compared to 120 in all of last year.
So far the violence has killed around 5,000 people, most of them rebels but including more than 700 civilians and around 700 Afghan police and soldiers.
Desperate to end the violence, President Hamid Karzai at the weekend offered to negotiate with the fugitive leader of the Taliban, Mullah Mohammad Omar.
The Taliban have said they would only talk if foreign troops quit Afghanistan, a demand Karzai has rejected.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of
RSS