Car bomb blasts in Afghanistan kill at least 41

By Noor Khan, Associated Press Writer –

August 25, 2009

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan –

A cluster of vehicle bombs detonated simultaneously Tuesday in (a Taliban-controlled area) near a foreign-owned construction company that had recently taken over a contract to build a road through  (a Taliban-controlled area). At least 41 people were killed, all civilians, officials said.

The thundering explosion occurred just after nightfall in a district that includes U.N. facilities and an Afghan intelligence office. The force of the blast shattered windows around the city and sent flames shooting into the sky.

So many houses and nearby buildings had collapsed that officials feared the death toll could rise further. At least 66 people were wounded, said Gen. Ghulam Ali Wahabat, a police commander in charge of southern Afghanistan.

"There was big smoke in the sky, and there were many dead bodies," said Mohammad Ismail, a vegetable seller being treated at the hospital for leg and hand injuries from the blast. "Some of the wounded were crying out."

It appeared the main target was the Japanese company that is involved in reconstruction efforts in the southern Afghan city. The company recently took over a contract to build a road that (Taliban fighters had controlled) for several months.

An intelligence office is about a quarter mile (400 meters) from the attack site and a U.N. office is located about a half mile (800 meters) away.

"The staff is good, everybody is safe," said Samad Khaydarov, head of the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan. "Our office, our guesthouses, are safe. ... Unfortunately, security is not so good in Kandahar."

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.

The blast in the center of the city was one of the largest since the Taliban were expelled from the country in 2001. It destroyed about 40 shops, including restaurants and bakeries.

The exact mechanism of the bombing was still being determined.

Provincial council member Haji Agha Lalai said five vehicles filled with explosives detonated together, causing the massive blast. But Shah said the vehicles used were an oil tanker filled with explosives and two car bombs.

Kandahar is the home of the (Taliban fighters, who) have carried out several complex attacks here in the last several years. A large NATO base sits on Kandahar's outskirts, but Taliban fighters control districts immediately to the city's west.

In other violence, a bomb blast killed four U.S. troops in southern Afghanistan on Tuesday, said military spokeswoman Lt. Cmdr. Christine Sidenstricker. No other information was released pending the notification of family members.

The deaths bring to 41 the number of U.S. troops killed in Afghanistan this month, the second deadliest month in the country since the 2001 U.S. invasion. Last month a record 44 U.S. troops died.

This year has been the deadliest of the war for U.S. troops. Including the latest deaths, at least 172 American forces have died in the Afghan war this year, according to an Associated Press count.

The number of overall NATO deaths this year is a record as well: at least 292. Last year 286 died, according to the AP count.

The U.S. has more than 60,000 troops in the country.

Bomb kills 36 in Afghanistan's Kandahar: officials

by Hameed Zalmai Hameed Zalmai – Tue Aug 25, 2009, 6:36 pm ET

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AFP) –

A massive bomb ripped through Afghanistan's southern city of Kandahar on Tuesday, killing 36 people near a construction company and government offices, officials said.

The vehicle bomb wounded more than 60 people and heavily damaged homes, trapping casualties under the rubble as rescue workers frantically tried to dig them out of the debris under the cover of darkness, officials said.

"So far we have 36 killed and 64 wounded and they are all civilians," said General Ghulam Ali Wahdad, police commander for southern Afghanistan, adding that it was impossible to give a breakdown on the identity of the victims.

"Police are still busy trying to find bodies from under the rubble," Wahdad told AFP by telephone.

The deaths of 36 people would make it the deadliest explosion in Afghanistan since a suicide car bomber killed more than 60 people, including two senior diplomats, in an attack on the Indian embassy in Kabul on July 7, 2008.

Kandahar is the biggest city in southern Afghanistan, where Taliban fighters fighting the Western-backed government have strongholds.

"It felt like an earthquake. The power went off and there was a huge explosion," said Agha Lalai, a member of the Kandahar provincial council.

"When I checked with security sources they told me that five cars exploded all at the same time," he added, although officials confirmed one explosion.

The bomb went off near a guest house frequented by foreigners, near the Kandahar provincial intelligence headquarters and less than a kilometre from the home of Ahmad Wali Karzai, brother of Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

Wali Karzai, the controversial younger sibling of the (NATO-backed) president said it was a vehicle bomb.

"It was either a tanker or a truck bomb and the target was a Japanese construction company," said Wali Karzai, who is head of the provincial council and has been accused in the Western media of involvement in the drugs' trade

"The Japanese were not there but Afghan and Pakistani workers may have been in the building. Doors and windows have blown out and glass broken up to one kilometre (half a mile) diameter and has caused heavy casualties," he said.

Deputy Kandahar police chief Fazel Ahmad Shairzad said: "It was a truck bomb which has caused all these casualties and damage. At this stage we don't know what was the target of the blast. We are investigating."

A senior police official said it was a suicide car bomb. A spokesman for the provincial Kandahar government put the death toll at around 35.

Residents in the southern city said they heard a huge explosion in a normally bustling street and close to a large complex with a wedding hall, which one police official said was on fire, shops and hotel rooms.

The interior ministry in Kabul told AFP that dozens of people were killed and wounded when explosives ripped through a vehicle. A spokesman put the death toll at more than 10 and the number of wounded at more than 50.

"It was in the middle of the city. More than 10 houses are destroyed and most of the casualties originated from those destroyed civilian homes," said spokesman Zemarai Bashary.

"It was a car explosion. We don't know if it was a suicide bombing because it was dark and the car has been totally destroyed. All the casualties up to now are civilians," Bashary added.

There was no immediate (Taliban) claim of responsibility but the ministry spokesman blamed the attack on Taliban-linked.

Kandahar was the powerbase of the former Taliban regime, which was ousted from power in Afghanistan by the 2001 US-led invasion and replaced with a Western-backed administration.

The Taliban (fighters) have struck repeatedly in recent weeks during what was a bloody countdown to nationwide elections last week, which marked only the second time that war-weary Afghans have voted for a president in their history.