February 18, 2011
Attacks Across Afghanistan Leave Over a Dozen Dead
By ALISSA J. RUBIN
KABUL, Afghanistan -- Attacks in four parts of the country left at least 18 people dead on Friday, including four NATO service members, four Afghan police officers and 10 civilians, signaling the tenaciousness of the insurgency even through the winter.
The most lethal episode occurred in the southeast province of Khost, on the edge of the provincial capital of the same name, where a suicide bomber detonated a car packed with explosives near a police checkpoint in a crowded shopping area.
The blast killed one police officer and 10 civilians, said Amir Badshah, the director of the public hospital in Khost. He said that 39 people were wounded, including five women critically.
Local people described the blast as completely unexpected since Khost City had been relatively calm over the past seven months after an aggressive effort by American troops to capture insurgent leaders and bomb makers in the area.
Naqeeb Isashas, whose car was slightly damaged in the blast, described it as "terrible," adding that "the ambulances and police did not come quickly and there were bodies all over."
The Taliban spokesman for eastern Afghanistan, Zabiullah Mujahid, claimed responsibility for the attack, saying a man named Irshad had driven the car.
The second attack occurred in Baghlan Province, a part of northern Afghanistan thought to be safe until last summer. A man dressed as an Afghan National Army soldier opened fire on German troops at an outpost in Pul-i-Kumri, where the provincial capital is located. The attack killed three German soldiers, according to Afghan security officials, though NATO did not specify the nationalities of the dead.
Gen. Daoud Daoud, the Afghan police commander for the north of the country, said that eight German soldiers were also wounded in the attack, which set off a firefight that lasted more than an hour. NATO and Afghan security forces were still investigating the episode.
Several local people complained about the way the foreign forces treated residents and said it was possible that the gunman had been provoked. "This kind of incident is taking place in Baghlan because the foreign forces do not have good behavior with the Afghan forces and then incidents take place," said Alam Khan, a member of the provincial council.
The third attack took place in Nangarhar Province, in eastern Afghanistan, when a roadside bomb exploded under a police truck as the men were returning from defusing two other roadside bombs, said Ahmadzia Abdul Zaid, the governor's spokesman. The explosion occurred about 35 miles from Jalalabad, the provincial capital.
Meanwhile, in southern Afghanistan, a NATO service member was killed in another attack Friday, according to a NATO statement.
Sharifullah Sahak contributed reporting from Kabul, and Afghan employees of The New York Times from Khost, Kunduz and Nangarhar.