Afghanistan

Taliban Claim Afghan Blast That Killed 17

(RFE/RL) August 29, 2006 -- A man who purportedly speaks for the Taliban says the Islamic militia has claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing at a market in southern Afghanistan that killed 17 people and injured nearly 50 others.

The purported spokesman, Qari Yusaf Ahmadi, told news agencies that the August 28 attack in Laskhar Gah, capital of Helmand Province, targeted a man named Khan Mohammad, who was a police chief in the region under the pro-Communist government of the 1980s. Mohammad was among those who died in the explosion.


(compiled from agency reports)

The Afghan Insurgency

The Afghan Insurgency

A U.S. military vehicle damaged by insurgents near Kandahar (epa)

HOMEGROWN OR IMPORTED? As attacks against Afghan and international forces continue relentlessly, RFE/RL hosted a briefing to discuss the nature of the Afghan insurgency. The discussion featured Marvin Weinbaum, professor emeritus of political science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and RFE/RL Afghanistan analyst Amin Tarzi.


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