A car bomb that exploded near a convoy carrying a provincial governor in eastern Afghanistan left nine wounded, officials said yesterday.
Afghanistan's Interior Ministry said that Arsallah Jamal, the governor of Khost Province, survived the blast in Khost city unhurt, but five of his bodyguards and four civilians were wounded.
US troops surrounded the area of Wednesday's blast and took the wounded to a hospital at their base near the city, said General Mohammad Ayub, the provincial police chief.
It was at least the third attempt to kill Jamal, who was returning from a visit to districts near the border with Pakistan when he was targeted on Wednesday.
The US-led coalition, meanwhile, said on Wednesday its forces clashed with suspected militants in central Afghanistan, killing several insurgents and detaining two.
The troops moved into compounds in Nirkh District, Wardak Province, late on Tuesday on intelligence that militants were hiding there, a coalition statement said.
Troops found weapons, ammunition and explosive materials, it said.
The clash happened in the same province where NATO and Afghan troops on Monday called in airstrikes during a battle that left up to 20 militants but also as many as 12 civilians dead, Afghan officials said.
Afghanistan this year has seen the heaviest fighting since the 2001 ouster of the Taliban. In all, more than 5,200 people have died in insurgency related violence, including some 700 civilians, according to an Associated Press count based on figures from Afghan and Western officials.
Meanwhile, NATO has reported progress in drumming up more troops for Afghanistan after nations leading the battle against the Taliban stepped up pressure on more reluctant European allies, but the US said significant shortfalls remained.
"I wouldn't say I'm satisfied," US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said. "But I would say that today was considerably more positive than I anticipated."
Diplomats said nine of the 26 NATO nations made new troop offers on the opening day of a meeting of defense ministers. Officials said it was too early to estimate the overall additional contribution to NATO's force of 41,000. But the alliance's top diplomat said the offers were significant because they would include new deployments to the most dangerous southern battlefields and more training teams to build up Afghanistan's army.
"I've noticed offers from nations, including for the southern part of Afghanistan," alliance Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer told a news conference. "We have 90 percent filled of what we need, but ... there are still shortages."
Gates used the opening session of the two-day meeting to press other allies to send more troops to the southern front lines where troops from the US, Canada and Britain are taking the lead.
"What we need now are actions, deeds and a sense of urgency and commitment to back up our pledges and promises," he said.
Kouri Richins, a Utah mother who published a children’s book about grief after the death of her husband is to serve a life sentence for his murder without the possibility of parole, a judge ruled on Wednesday. Richins was convicted in March of aggravated murder for lacing a cocktail given to her husband, Eric Richins, with five times the lethal dose of fentanyl at their home near Park City in 2022. A jury also found her guilty of four other felonies, including insurance fraud, forgery and attempted murder for trying to poison her husband weeks earlier on Feb. 14, 2022, with a
‘PERSONAL MISTAKES’: Eileen Wang has agreed to plead guilty to the felony, which comes with a maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison A southern California mayor has agreed to plead guilty to acting as an illegal agent for the Chinese government and has resigned from her city position, officials said on Monday. Eileen Wang (王愛琳), mayor of Arcadia, was charged last month with one count of acting in the US as an illegal agent of a foreign government. She was accused of doing the bidding of Chinese officials, such as sharing articles favorable to Beijing, without prior notification to the US government as required by law. The 58-year-old was elected in November 2022 to a five-person city council, from which the mayor is selected
DELA ROSA CASE: The whereabouts of the senator, who is wanted by the ICC, was unclear, while President Marcos faces a political test over the senate situation Philippine authorities yesterday were seeking confirmation of reports that a top politician wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) had fled, a day after gunfire rang out at the Philippine Senate where he had taken refuge fearing his arrest. Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, the former national police chief and top enforcer of former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte’s “war on drugs,” has been under Senate protection and is wanted for crimes against humanity, the same charges Duterte is accused of. “Several sources confirmed that the senator, Senator Bato, is no longer in the Senate premises, but we are still getting confirmation,” Presidential
HELP DENIED? The US Department of State said that the Cuban leadership refuses to allow the US to provide aid to Cubans, ‘who are in desperate need of assistance’ US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday said that Cuba’s leadership must change, as Washington renewed an offer of US$100 million in aid if the communist nation agrees to cooperate. Cuba has been suffering severe economic tumult led by an energy shortage that plunged 65 percent of the country into darkness on Tuesday. Cuba’s leaders have blamed US sanctions, but Rubio, a Cuban American and critic of the government established by Fidel Castro, said the system was to blame, including corruption by the military. “It’s a broken, nonfunctional economy, and it’s impossible to change it. I wish it were different,” he told
RSS