15 die in Afghan suicide attack: 55 militants killed in Nato strikes
KHOST, Nov 26: A suicide bomber blew himself up in a restaurant in eastern Afghanistan on Sunday, killing 15 Afghans, as Nato said 55 rebels had died in fierce clashes that also killed one of its soldiers.
The violence was the worst in weeks after a lull in a Taliban-led insurgency that has left around 3,700 people dead this year, four times more than last year, with rebels accounting for most of the victims.
The suicide attacker was in a restaurant in the remote town of Urgun in the eastern province of Paktika and blew himself up when the Urgun district chief walked in, the interior ministry said.
“Fifteen people were martyred and 25 others including the district chief, Mohammad Mobin, were wounded,” it said.
Paktika provincial governor Mohammad Akram Kheplwak gave the same toll. He said most of the casualties were soldiers with a militia hired by US forces, who have a base in the area, to assist with patrols and searches.
The commander of the militia and the governor of an adjoining district were among the wounded, he said.
Interior ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary blamed the attack on the “enemies of Afghanistan and of the government”.
This often-used term generally refers to fighters with the extremist Taliban movement driven from power five years ago. The hardliners’ insurgency features regular suicide and roadside bombings.
The small hotel and some shops around it were badly damaged, said witness Mohammad Shah Faizi who saw some of the bodies being pulled from the rubble.
Nato’s International Security Assistance Force said the blast caused buildings to collapse and civilians were among the dead.
It was the worst such incident since a suicide bombing in Kabul killed 16 people, including two US soldiers, in September.
Afghan and ISAF officials meanwhile reported a string of Taliban attacks in the south of the country which left nearly 55 rebels and a Nato soldier dead.
The heaviest death toll was in the province of Uruzgan, where ISAF said its soldiers were attacked by a “large number of insurgents” on Saturday.
ISAF soldiers returned fire and called in war planes. “Initial battle damage assessment indicates that approximately 50 insurgents were killed in the attack. Regrettably, an ISAF soldier was also killed,” it said.
The force of 31,000 soldiers drawn from 37 nations does not release the nationalities of its casualties, leaving that to the home country.
Most of the troops in Uruzgan are with a 2,100-strong Dutch deployment to Afghanistan or from a 200-soldier Australian force. Nearly 120 foreign soldiers have died in combat in Afghanistan this year, up from just over 70 last year.
There were also several clashes in the Panjwayi district of Kandahar on Friday and Saturday, with Afghan and ISAF soldiers coming under attack, the force said.
“Close air support was requested and engaged the insurgents, killing approximately five of them. Three ISAF soldiers were also injured during the engagement.” Panjwayi was the scene in September of what ISAF termed the Taliban’s biggest defeat since they were driven from government in 2001. About 1,000 rebels were killed. They have, however, since been reinfiltrating.
Afghan officials meanwhile reported insurgent attacks in Kandahar and Zabul provinces overnight and said a Taliban had been killed in each.
There was also a bomb blast in the capital on Saturday, the first in about a month, and a suicide bombing in an adjoining province, but neither claimed any lives.
The latest spurt of violence follows a dip in insurgency-linked bloodshed over recent weeks.
The violence peaked over the summer with daily attacks and full-scale battles claiming scores of lives and taking many of the ISAF nations by surprise, with some saying the fighting was the most intense they had seen in decades.
Meanwhile, a US senator urged Pakistan to do more to help ease violence in Afghanistan, saying militants in Afghanistan were taking refuge and organizing in the neighbouring country.
''The Pakistanis have to be much more aggressive and diligent. They're trying, but they have to do more,'' Democratic Senator Jack Reed told CNN's ''Late Edition.''—AFP
