Insurgents Kill Dozens in Southern Afghanistan
By ROD NORDLAND
Published: January 19, 2012
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KABUL, Afghanistan — Seventeen people, including two key local officials, were killed, in two bombings in southern Helmand Province, Afghan authorities reported on Thursday.
As a wave of attacks continued, news agencies reported that a suicide bomber killed six civilians when he blew himself Thursday at an entrance to the NATO airbase in Kandahar.
Taliban fighters also attacked a police checkpoint in the Now Zad District, also in Helmand Province. At least two police officers and 12 Taliban fighters, including a local commander identified as Mullah Abdul Baqi, were killed in the ensuing gun battle, said Dawoud Ahmadi, a spokesman for the provincial governor. Another two officers were wounded, he said.
In Nad Ali District, which authorities had declared largely cleared of insurgents over the past year, a roadside bomb on Wednesday killed the district head of the National Directorate of Security, the Afghan intelligence service, along with a member of the district council, or shura, and two other people, according to Mr. Ahmadi, the governor’s spokesman.
The bomb was planted near the home of the security directorate chief, Wali Mohammad, and struck his car as he arrived there at about 5 p.m. on Wednesday, according to Mohammad Ismail Hotak, the head of the Operation Coordination Center in the province. Also killed were shura member Gul Agha, a security directorate agent, and a civilian, Afghan officials said.
In the second incident, which took place an hour earlier on Wednesday, a suicide bomber on a motorcycle targeted a joint Afghan police and International Security Assistance Force patrol in Kajaki District, northern Helmand Province. The explosion took place in a crowded bazaar area, killing three police officers and ten civilians, and wounding 22 other people, according to Mr. Ahmadi.
Gen. John R. Allen, the ISAF commander, issued a statement condemning the suicide bombing. “Mullah Omar has lost all control over Taliban insurgents, otherwise he would immediately denounce these attacks and order his ‘forces’ to stop attacking innocent Afghan civilians,” his statement said, referring to Muhammad Omar, the Taliban leader.
Taimoor Shah in Kandahar, Afghanistan, and an Afghan employee of The New York Times in Helmand Province contributed reporting.
Published: January 19, 2012
===================================================
KABUL, Afghanistan — Seventeen people, including two key local officials, were killed, in two bombings in southern Helmand Province, Afghan authorities reported on Thursday.
As a wave of attacks continued, news agencies reported that a suicide bomber killed six civilians when he blew himself Thursday at an entrance to the NATO airbase in Kandahar.
Taliban fighters also attacked a police checkpoint in the Now Zad District, also in Helmand Province. At least two police officers and 12 Taliban fighters, including a local commander identified as Mullah Abdul Baqi, were killed in the ensuing gun battle, said Dawoud Ahmadi, a spokesman for the provincial governor. Another two officers were wounded, he said.
In Nad Ali District, which authorities had declared largely cleared of insurgents over the past year, a roadside bomb on Wednesday killed the district head of the National Directorate of Security, the Afghan intelligence service, along with a member of the district council, or shura, and two other people, according to Mr. Ahmadi, the governor’s spokesman.
The bomb was planted near the home of the security directorate chief, Wali Mohammad, and struck his car as he arrived there at about 5 p.m. on Wednesday, according to Mohammad Ismail Hotak, the head of the Operation Coordination Center in the province. Also killed were shura member Gul Agha, a security directorate agent, and a civilian, Afghan officials said.
In the second incident, which took place an hour earlier on Wednesday, a suicide bomber on a motorcycle targeted a joint Afghan police and International Security Assistance Force patrol in Kajaki District, northern Helmand Province. The explosion took place in a crowded bazaar area, killing three police officers and ten civilians, and wounding 22 other people, according to Mr. Ahmadi.
Gen. John R. Allen, the ISAF commander, issued a statement condemning the suicide bombing. “Mullah Omar has lost all control over Taliban insurgents, otherwise he would immediately denounce these attacks and order his ‘forces’ to stop attacking innocent Afghan civilians,” his statement said, referring to Muhammad Omar, the Taliban leader.
Taimoor Shah in Kandahar, Afghanistan, and an Afghan employee of The New York Times in Helmand Province contributed reporting.
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