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KANDAHAR, Aug 18: A suicide car bomb attack outside a base of a US security firm here on Saturday killed 15 people. The blast occurred close to a highway on the outskirts of the city, police said. Witnesses said it was aimed at United States security firm USPI.
A police vehicle and a car were also hit by the explosion, witnesses said.
“We saw 12 bodies being dragged away. They were civilians and also Afghan employees of the company,” said a witness.
A Reuters reporter saw 15 bodies in the morgue of a hospital, five of them of policemen, three women and a child. He said 18 other people were wounded.
MULLA OMAR: Taliban leader Mulla Mohammad Omar, meanwhile, called upon the Afghans to unite with the militants to drive western forces from Afghanistan.
A message marking the 88th anniversary on Sunday of Afghanistan’s independence from Britain, signed by the Taliban chief and emailed to news agencies, called on Afghans to set aside their differences and wage jihad against colonialist forces.
“The enemies of the religion of Islam and the independence of the country have launched satanic propaganda under the slogans of democracy and freedom and are trying to disperse Afghans and benefit from it,” it said.
“We must wake up and be careful. We have to put aside all of our internal, regional and linguistic differences and unite against the enemy.”
The message said the regrouped militants were winning their war against the more than 50,000 coalition forces.—Reuters/AFP
