April 17, 2007	Tuesday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 28, 1428

KABUL, April 16: A suicide bomber blew himself up among Afghan policemen doing their morning exercise in the northeastern city of Kunduz on Monday, killing nine and wounding 25, the government said.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the second deadly suicide attack on police in two days, which came as the New York-based Human Rights Watch said the Taliban were increasingly targeting civilians, killing nearly 700 last year.

Separately, a provincial governor said two French aid workers abducted this month were in the hands of feared Taliban commander Mullah Dadullah, and a Taliban spokesman said Taliban leaders were considering demands for their release.

The bomb attack in Kunduz, 250 km north of Kabul, was the worst in the relatively peaceful north since US-led forces overthrew the Taliban in 2001.

“It happened when the police were exercising next to the governor's building. Nine police are dead and 25 injured,” an Interior Ministry official said.

Taliban commander Hayatullah Khan claimed responsibility and said more bombers were ready to strike. “They are present in all Afghan cities and waiting for orders,” he said.

Suicide attacks in Afghanistan, almost unheard of three years ago, surged last year to nearly 140 from about 20 in 2005. There have been numerous attacks this year. On Saturday, a suicide bomber killed seven policemen and a civilian in the eastern town of Khost.

CIVILIAN TOLL: Human Rights Watch said many of the nearly 700 civilians killed by the Taliban last year died in suicide blasts. It accused the Taliban and other insurgents of war crimes.

“The insurgents are increasingly committing war crimes, often by directly targetting civilians. Even when they're aiming at military targets, insurgent attacks are often so indiscriminate that Afghan civilians end up as the main victims,” it said.

The group's latest report focuses on civilian deaths caused by militants. But a previous report by the group was also critical of foreign troops over civilian casualties.

The governor of the southwestern province of Nimroz, Ghulam Dastgir Azad, said the two French aid workers who disappeared with three Afghan colleagues on April 5 were in the hands of Taliban commander Mullah Dadullah.

He said the Taliban had yet to issue demands but repeated that the government would not release Taliban prisoners in exchange: “That would add to the difficulties we're facing.”

Last month, a journalist from the Italian daily La Repubblica was kidnapped with his driver and translator in Helmand. Daniele Mastrogiacomo was freed after President Hamid Karzai released five Taliban prisoners under pressure from Rome.

The Italian's Afghan colleagues were beheaded.

Taliban spokesman Qari Mohammad Yousuf said top Taliban leaders would make a decision on demands. “All the hostages are safe, we are taking care of them,” Yousuf said by telephone.

The aid workers made a tearful appeal to Paris for help in a video obtained by newsmen on Saturday, saying they would otherwise be beheaded.

Separately, Afghanistan's Nato force killed several Taliban leaders in attacks, including precision air strikes, in the southern province of Helmand over recent days, the force said, without identifying the leaders.—Reuters