Thirteen killed as Afghan insurgency at record high

Saturday, June 13, 2009 at 7:23 AM Posted by Beijing News


Thirteen people died in new insurgent attacks in Afghanistan, including eight drivers killed when a suicide bomber blew himself up near an international military base, officials said on Saturday.

The fresh bloodshed comes amid a surge in insurgency-linked violence which military officials say is at its highest level since international troops arrived to remove the extremist Taliban regime in late 2001.

In the latest attack, a roadside bomb struck a vehicle travelling between the eastern provinces of Paktya and Khost, near the border with Pakistan Saturday, and killed three Afghan construction workers, the Paktya provincial government spokesman said.

Another Afghan civilian, a driver, was killed when insurgents ambushed a convoy of trucks in the same province, said the official, Rohullah Samoon.

He blamed the attack on Taliban insurgents who are increasingly active in Afghanistan and have support from extremists based in Pakistan.

Meanwhile, a suicide bomber blew himself up among delivery vehicles parked outside an international military base in the southern province of Helmand, Afghan officials said.

Eight drivers were killed and 21 wounded, said Abdul Ahad, the governor of Gereshk district where the attack occurred late Friday.

Provincial government spokesman Daud Ahmadi had said earlier that four drivers were killed and eight others wounded. "Eight tankers were set alight as well as four smaller vehicles used by the guards for the convoy," he said.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack about 200 metres yards from the base.

The insurgents, who have intensified their campaign against the government and foreign forces in recent months, regularly attack convoys that deliver fuel and provide other logistical support to the nearly 90,000 international troops in Afghanistan.

A British soldier was also killed Friday in Helmand in an explosion during an operation in Sangin district, the Ministry of Defence in London said.

General David Petraeus, the commander of US forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, warned Thursday that he expects "tough months" ahead for the country which is holding presidential elections in August.

"The past week was the highest level of security incidents in Afghanistan's post-liberation history," he said.

The number of insurgent-initiated attacks has increased by about 60 percent from January-May last year to the same period this year, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force said Saturday.

"The number of attacks varies significantly across Afghanistan with Helmand province in particular experiencing the highest increase in attacks," spokesman Brigadier General Richard Blanchette told AFP.







Schalit

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