Six US Nationals Killed In Two Afghan Attacks

A bomb blast in Afghanistan where an ongoing US-led occupation has devastated the cities and rural areas of this central Asian state. Obama says that he is winding down the war yet people are dying everyday., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.

6 US nationals killed in two Afghan attacks

Sat Apr 6, 2013 9:23PM GMT
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Six US nationals, three army soldiers and three civilians, have been killed in two separate attacks in Afghanistan, US and Afghan officials say.

The officials said the Americans were killed on Saturday, making it the deadliest day for the US-led war in eight months.

The officials said that three US troops and two civilians were killed when a car bomber ambushed a convoy of US-led NATO forces in the south. One Afghan doctor was also killed in the attack.

A US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that at least one of the victims was a US State Department employee. The official also said that about nine other Americans and Afghans were injured during the attack.

Another American national was also killed in a separate Taliban attack in eastern Afghanistan, the US military said in a statement.

The American Embassy in Kabul confirmed that US nationals were killed in an attack in Qalat, the capital of Zabul province, but did not provide further details.

"There are American and Afghan casualties," the embassy said in a statement. "We are still investigating the incident and cannot confirm details at this time."

Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi claimed responsibility for the Zabul assault.

On August 16, seven American troops were killed in two attacks in Kandahar province. Six lost their lives when Taliban militants shot down their helicopter and one soldier was killed in a roadside bombing.

According to the website icasualties.org, a total of 30 foreign troops, including 24 US soldiers, have lost their lives in Afghanistan so far this year. Six foreign civilians also died in Afghanistan in 2013.

A total of 3,279 foreign soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since the US-led war began in 2001.

The increasing number of military casualties in Afghanistan has caused widespread anger in the US and other NATO member states, undermining public support for the Afghan war.

The US-led war in Afghanistan began in October 2001. The offensive removed the Taliban from power, but insecurity continues to rise across Afghanistan, despite the presence of about 100,000 US-led troops.


Provincial governor escapes bomb attack in south Afghanistan

Sat Apr 6, 2013 2:21PM GMT
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The governor of Afghanistan’s southern province of Zabul has escaped an attempt on his life unscathed when a car bomb targeted his convoy, local officials say.

The car bomb took place at around 11 a.m. local time (0630 GMT) on Saturday when a bomber detonated his explosive-rigged vehicle near a hospital in the provincial capital Qalat, 340 kilometers (211 miles) south of Kabul, as Mohammad Ashraf Naseri’s convoy was heading to the Sheikh Mati School.

"I'm safe and healthy," he told the Associated Press in a telephone call, adding, "The target was my vehicle, but I survived."

Naseri said a doctor was killed in the bombing, while two of his bodyguards and a student from the school were wounded.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

The United States and its allies invaded Afghanistan in October 2001 as part of Washington’s so-called war on terror. The offensive removed the Taliban from power, but insecurity continues to rise across the country, despite the presence of thousands of US-led troops.

According to the United Nations, thousands of Afghan civilians have died and hundreds of thousands more displaced during more than 11 years of long war.