Violence in Afghanistan has spiralled in the past year, with Taleban-led militants stepping up their fight against the Afghan government and its Western backers as Kabul prepares to take over responsibility for security gradually from foreign forces.
The attackers forced their way into the company’s compound in the Bermel district of volatile Paktika province on Sunday night after killing a security guard and then detonated a truck laden with explosives, the Interior Ministry said.
A statement from the office of the Paktika governor said 24 people were killed and another 53 wounded. Earlier estimates said between 13 and 20 had been killed.
President Hamid Karzai condemned the attack, describing it as “brutal” in a statement released by his office.
Paktika governor Mohebullah Sameeem said the dead and wounded included employees of the firm and other civilians. Construction crews and others working on infrastructure projects are frequently targeted by insurgents.
Mukhlis Afghan, governor Sameem’s spokesman, said the firm was one of the largest construction companies in the province funded by the US government.
He said the blasts were so powerful that doors and windows were blown out of nearby houses, but he did not know if there were casualties outside the firm’s compound.
Bermel shares a long border with lawless areas of neighboring Pakistan, where insurgents are said to have safe havens from which they launch attacks inside Afghanistan.
On Sunday, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said it had killed more than 10 insurgents in an air strike in the same district.
In an e-mailed statement to media, Taleban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed the Islamist group had carried out the attack but said it had been on a military base and that 49 foreign and Afghan troops had been killed and wounded.
Taleban insurgents often inflate casualties inflicted on Afghan government forces and foreign troops.
Violence across Afghanistan last year reached its worst levels since the Taleban were ousted by US -backed Afghan forces in 2001, with civilian and military casualties hitting record levels.
The violence underscores the challenges ahead as US and NATO forces begin to hand over security responsibility to Afghan troops, allowing foreign troops to withdraw gradually from an increasingly unpopular war.
The process, announced last week, will begin with the handover of seven areas in July and culminate in the withdrawal of all foreign combat troops by 2014.
(Additional reporting by Alexander Dziadosz, Edmund Blair, Maria Golovnina, Michael Georgy, Ibon Villelabeitia, Tom Pfeiffer, Lamine Chikhi, Mariam Karouny, Joseph Nasr, Marie-Louise Gumuchian, David Brunnstrom and Arshad Mohammed; Writing by Mark Trevelyan; Editing by Giles Elgood)
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Turkish PM urges Assad to announce reforms soon
ANKARA, March 28 : Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad had not given him “a negative answer” when he urged him to listen to his people in two telephone calls over the last three days.
Erdogan, speaking at Ankara airport before leaving for a visit to Iraq, said he had suggested to Assad that he meet some of the demands of thousands of people who have taken part in pro-democracy demonstrations across Syria.
” said they were working on lifting the state of emergency to meet demands. They told us they were working on political parties ... we hope these measures are actually implemented rather than remaining promises,” Erdogan said.
“We did not receive a negative answer when we urged Mr.Assad to listen to the voice of people. I hope he makes the announcement today or tomorrow.”
Dozens of people have been killed in the demonstrations, which have presented Assad with the gravest crisis in his 11-year rule. On Saturday, he deployed the army for the first time in the port of Latakia.
Turkish officials have been guarded in commenting on events in Syria. Relations between the two countries have improved since Erdogan’s AK Party came to power, while Turkey’s old friendship with Israel has soured.
“It is impossible for us to remain silent in the face of these events, we have a 800 km (500 miles) long border with Syria,” Erdogan said.
Turkey’s ruling AK party has implemented a reform program since coming to power almost a decade ago to try to strengthen democracy and modernize the economy.
Asked about operations in Libya, to be taken over by NATO, Erdogan said Turkey had agreed to take responsibility for humanitarian aid distribution at the airport in the rebel stronghold Benghazi and Turkish naval forces would help control the corridor between Crete and Benghazi.
“We have not been the country who is dropping bombs or firing bullets, and nor will we be,” he said.
Erdogan and Foreign Minister Davutoglu are expected to attend an international meeting in London on Tuesday to discuss the Libya operation and the country’s future.
Erdogan, who is expected to win a third term in office in an election in June, told Britain’s Guardian newspaper in a report published on Sunday that Turkey was prepared to act as mediator to broker an early cease-fire in Libya and he said any drawn-out conflict risked turning Libya into a second Iraq.
