KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, 17 October 2006 — Suicide bombers struck in Afghanistan’s two main cities yesterday, killing three civilians and wounding six, while seven suspected militants died in fighting with coalition and NATO forces in outlying provinces, officials said. Resistance from Taleban-led insurgents has eased a little in recent weeks but they have kept up a steady stream of suicide attacks, on the back of the heaviest burst of fighting in Afghanistan since the militia’s ouster from power five years ago.
In the attack near the international airport in the capital, police managed to corner the bomber and only one bystander, a child, was hurt, police officer Mirza Mohammed and eyewitnesses said.
In the former Taleban stronghold of Kandahar, an attacker in a Toyota Surf car laden with explosives rammed into a NATO military convoy, damaging one heavy jeep, NATO and police said.
Police officer Abdul Wasai said three Afghan civilians were killed and four wounded in the blast that left the attacker’s vehicle and body in pieces, scattered on the road. The targeted jeep was charred but intact.
Maj. Daryl Morrell, a spokesman for the NATO-led force, blamed the Taleban for the attack, saying the hard-line militia wanted to disturb law and order in Kandahar province. He said one NATO soldier was wounded, but would not give details about identity or nationality.
An Associated Press reporter at the scene saw Canadian troops block the road where the attack happened near a major junction leading into the city. In central Ghazni province, US-led coalition and Afghan troops, backed by warplanes, launched a pre-dawn raid yesterday that killed three suspected militants, the US military said in a statement.
At the weekend, Italian freelance photographer Gabriele Torsello and his Afghan translator were reportedly abducted there. Five armed men abducted Torsello and his translator Saturday as they drove from Lashkar Gah, the capital of southern Helmand province, to Kandahar, a Helmand official said Sunday on condition of anonymity because he was unauthorized to speak to the media.
A week ago, two German journalists were killed in northern Afghanistan. Most kidnapping victims in the country have been Afghans or foreigners helping foreign troops or working with internationally funded reconstruction projects.
Qari Yousaf Ahmadi, who claims to speak for the Taleban in southern Afghanistan, denied that the militants abducted the men, but said Torsello had spent time with Taleban fighters in Helmand’s restive Musa Qala area.
