CAR BOMB KILLS AT LEAST 89 IN AFGHANISTAN
Paktika (Afghanistan), 17 Ramadan 1435/15 July 2014 (MINA) – A powerful bomb blast has killed at least 89 people, including women and children, in Afghanistan’s southeastern Paktika province on Tuesday.
Local authorities said a bomb planted in a parked vehicle exploded on Tuesday morning in the Urgun district. According to Malim Raza, an official in the district administration, security forces had suspected this car, which the attackers left it in the parking lot before running away.
Some eyewitnesses, however, suggest that the car came running into the market and blew up.
Raza said the death toll could surge because of the large number of people injured by the blast.
Provincial security officials told AA that the blast was so intense a two-story market collapsed onto shop keepers and customers. Many are feared trapped underneath the roof.
Urgun is considered relatively peaceful district in Paktika province, which is largely under the influence of the Taliban. No group or individual has immediately claimed responsibility for the attack but authorities often blame Taliban fighters for such attacks.
A roadside bomb in Afghanistan has killed two employees of the presidential palace in eastern Kabul.
The explosion reportedly hit a minivan carrying seven staffers of the palace’s media office. The blast also wounded five other people, Press Tv quoted by Mi’raj News Agency (MINA) as reporting.
According to Kabul’s police, the bomb was a remotely-detonated device planted along the midsection of a main road.
The Taliban militant group has claimed responsibility for the attack and confirmed that several employees of the palace were killed or injured due to the explosion.
The event comes after at least 5 people including civilians and security forces were wounded following an explosion on Monday evening.
The Taliban has vowed to increase attacks on Afghan forces and US-led troops, their bases, diplomatic missions and vehicle convoys before the drawdown of the US-led mission by the end of the year.
The United States and its allies invaded Afghanistan in 2001 as part of Washington’s so-called war on terror. The offensive removed the Taliban from power, but insecurity remains across Afghanistan despite the presence of thousands of US-led troops in the country.
The US-led war in Afghanistan, which has caused record-high civilian and military casualties, has become the longest military conflict in the American history. (T/P09/P04)
Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)
