Taleban: Kandahar bombings a 'warning' to NATO
An Afghan man, left, views the site of a blast near Kandahar prison on Sunday. Taliban suicide bombers struck across Afghanistan's southern city of Kandahar on Saturday. (Reuters)
Published: Mar 14, 2010 23:26 Updated: Mar 14, 2010 23:26
KANDAHAR: The Taleban on Sunday called their deadly bomb attacks on the southern city of Kandahar a warning to NATO's top general that the insurgents were ready for the war's next major offensive in their heartland.
The series of bombings that demolished buildings and killed dozens - including 10 people at a wedding - prompted the provincial governor to plead for more security in the area. Fearful residents said they had no confidence that either government or foreign troops can protect them.
Taleban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi said the Saturday night attacks proved the insurgents were still able to operate despite the buildup of Afghan and international troops in preparation for a push into Kandahar province.
A Taleban-linked website called the attacks in the south's largest city a "warning" to NATO's Gen. Stanley McChrystal, who has said coalition forces will target Kandahar later this year after driving the insurgents from a key stronghold in neighboring Helmand province.
"Gen. McChrystal has said that soon they will start their operations, and now we have already started our operations," Ahmadi told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. "With all the preparations they have taken, still they are not able to stop us."
The governor of Kandahar province demanded more security after the explosions.
"They can do what they intend and want, and the government can't control the situation," said Javed Ahmad, 40, of Kandahar. "We don't feel secure in the presence of all the forces in Afghanistan, and it's terrible for us to live in this kind of situation. We don't feel safe even at home, and we can't walk around." At least 35 people were killed in Saturday night's attacks, according to the Ministry of Interior.
Gov. Tooryalai Wesa said the blasts included two car bombs, six suicide attackers on motorbikes and bicycles, and homemade bombs. The attackers targeted the city's prison, police headquarters, a wedding hall next door and other areas on roads leading to the prison.
Wesa told reporters that he had asked the central government in Kabul for more Afghan troops to protect the city in the run-up to the expected offensive in Kandahar province, the spiritual birthplace of the Taleban. He also said he wants to coordinate with NATO forces to improve security.
President Hamid Karzai condemned the attacks, and Ministry of Interior spokesman Zemeri Bashary told reporters Sunday that the government was considering Wesa's request for additional forces.
The main target of the attacks was the prison, where investigators have found eight suicide vests, three rockets and AK-47 ammunition, police said.
Bashary told reporters the attackers were trying to free prisoners and block security forces from responding, "but they failed in their mission." "They were trying to open the jail, that is why they attacked cleverly in different parts of the city," said Kandahar provincial police chief Gen. Sardar Mohammad Zazi.
The assault mirrored a 2008 suicide bombing at the Kandahar prison gates that freed hundreds of prisoners, many of them suspected insurgents. No inmates escaped this time from the lockup, which Canadian troops reinforced with cement block after the 2008 attack.
Among the dead were 13 policemen and 22 civilians, including six women and three children, the interior ministry said. Most of the casualties occurred at the police headquarters and at the wedding celebration in a hall next door.
Another 57 people were wounded, including 17 policemen, and 42 homes were damaged, the ministry said.
"Last night was like doomsday for all of Kandahar's people," said Mohammad Anwar, a 30-year-old shopkeeper, whose relative lost a son in the attacks. He said residents blamed the United States and international forces for not battling the militants strongly enough.
"It is difficult for us to bear this kind of situation anymore," Anwar said. "We don't know the aim of these people," he said, referring to the insurgents. "Are they trying to kill civilians or eliminate the system? The government is too weak to control these kind of attacks." Haji-Muhammad Aslam, 46, who also runs a store in the city, said residents of Kandahar feel helpless.
"What we can do?" he asked. "Almost nothing, except accept deaths and injuries. We are created to be killed by anyone, whether by militants, Americans or Afghan forces.
President Karzai's half brother, Ahmed Wali Karzai, a member of the Kandahar provincial council, told The Associated Press that two of the explosions occurred near his home. But he said he was not being targeted personally.
