January 20, 2009
Three Attacks Hit Eastern Afghan Town
By SANGAR RAHIMI
KABUL, Afghanistan -- The eastern town of Khost was hit by three explosions on Monday, including a double suicide bombing, leaving a teenager dead and at least 16 other civilians wounded, including a woman and five children, police and military officials said.
Khost Province lies close to the Pakistani border and the restive Pakistani tribal area of North Waziristan, one of the main sanctuaries for Taliban insurgents. It is often hit by suicide bombings and other attacks. But in recent months, insurgents have used increasingly sophisticated tactics, like using multiple bombers, or a combination of car bombs and attacks on foot.
The explosions on Monday were aimed at police and military targets, said Mohammad Yaqoub, the police chief for security in Khost Province. A remote controlled bomb placed in the shopping area of the town was detonated as a police convoy was passing in the mid-morning and a second bomb was found and defused, he said.
Two hours later, a suicide bomber detonated his car outside one of the military bases in the town. A second bomber, who got out of the car minutes before, then tried to storm the gate armed with a grenade and a pistol. Afghan policemen who had rushed to the scene after the explosion chased the bomber and he blew himself without killing or wounding anyone else, Mr. Yaqoub said.
A teenager was killed in the car bomb and four civilians were also wounded in the town, the provincial health director, Dr. Gul Mohammaddin said. The NATO-led force said it treated 12 people wounded by the car bomb, including five children, one woman and an Afghan guard.