Airstrike, bomb blasts kill 32 in Afghanistan

  DPA, Thu, 06 Aug 2009 13:38:49 GMT

Kandahar -

A roadside bomb believed to have been planted by Taliban fighters was ignited by a passing tractor in southern Afghanistan, killing 21 civilians, while five farmers were killed in US airstrike in the same region, officials said Thursday. Meanwhile, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) said Thursday that a US soldier, serving under the banner of the alliance forces, was killed fighting the Taliban in western Afghanistan, while five police were killed by a roadside bomb in southern Helmand province.

The civilians killed in the first attack were on their way to a wedding in the Darwaishan area of Garmsir in the southern province of Helmand on Wednesday, Assadullah Sherzad, the provincial police chief told the German Press Agency dpa.

Sherzad added that the civilians were travelling inside a trailer attached to a tractor, while five other civilians were wounded in the attack.

Sherzad held militants with the Islamic extremist Taliban, who are most active in Helmand, responsible for the attack.

The Afghan Defence Ministry also confirmed the blast, saying in a statement that the attack once again showed the intentions of "terrorists" towards the Afghan people.

Afghan civilians have been the main victims of Taliban-led attacks and fighting between insurgents and international forces.

In the latest incident of civilian deaths at the hand of international forces, five farmers were killed by a US military airstrike on Wednesday, according to Niaz Mohammad Sarhadi, district governor of Zherai in southern Kandahar province.

"The farmers were loading cucumbers on a truck when the American forces hit them from their aircraft," Sarhadi said, claiming that he had gone to the scene and saw no weapons.

A US military spokeswoman confirmed the attack, but said the men were insurgents spotted loading ammunition on a truck. She said the incident was under investigation.

Civilian deaths have long been a source of tension between the government of Hamid Karzai and NATO forces. Karzai has repeatedly warned the alliance of failure in the fight against terrorism if the killing of civilians continued.

NATO's new secretary general, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, who came to Kabul on a two-day visit on Wednesday, told a press conference that the alliance forces would do their "utmost to reduce the number of civilian casualties to an absolute minimum."

"We cannot accept the loss of innocent life," Rasmussen said, adding: "Unfortunately in an armed struggle we will see civilian casualties."

Meanwhile, five Afghan police were killed and three others wounded when their vehicle struck a roadside bomb in Nad Ali district of Helmand province on Thursday morning, Helmand police chief Sherzad said.

In another incident, a US soldier was killed by a roadside bomb explosion in western Afghanistan on Wednesday, the NATO said in a statement.

The incident happened shortly after the troops engaged several insurgents who were spotted emplacing a roadside bomb, the statement said. The forces "successfully neutralized" the militant activity, it said, but did not provide more details.

The latest death brought to 11 the number of international soldiers killed in Afghanistan this month. A total of 75 soldiers, including 43 US troops were killed in July, a month that marked the deadliest period for foreign troops since 2001.

More than 100,000 international troops deployed from 42 nations are currently stationed in Afghanistan. Over 60,000 of that number are US soldiers.

Taliban rely heavily on the use of roadside attacks as part of their campaign against Afghan and international forces.

Bombs kill 10 in south Afghanistan

By Ismail Sameem Ismail Sameem –

August 6, 2009

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) –

Two roadside bombs in Afghanistan's most violent province killed five revelers heading to a wedding and five policemen, officials said on Thursday.

The first bomb struck a family heading to a wedding in a tractor on Wednesday in volatile Helmand province's Garmsir district, where a new force of U.S. Marines has been battling Taliban fighters since launching a major operation last month.

Earlier on Thursday Afghanistan's Interior and Defense ministries had put the toll from the wedding attack at 21 dead. But officials lowered the toll to five after investigating further, Helmand police chief Asadullah Sherzad said.

"Because of the remoteness of the area we did not have accurate information in the morning. The toll of five killed and five wounded is precise information and that comes from an investigation by our team," he told Reuters by telephone.

The second bomb exploded near a police vehicle on Thursday in Naad Ali district, also in Helmand, killing five policemen and injuring three.

An Afghan government map obtained by Reuters shows that almost half of Afghanistan is at a high risk of attack by the Taliban and other fighters, with 13 of its 356 districts colored dark red, marking them under "enemy control."

At least 71 international troops were killed in July, by far the worst monthly toll for foreign forces since the war started.

In Kandahar province, which borders on Helmand, NATO-led forces fired on a vehicle from a helicopter late on Wednesday, but disputed Afghan officials' accounts they killed civilians.

Jirai district governor Niaz Mohammad Sarhadi said five people were killed in a vehicle carrying cucumbers. But U.S. military spokeswoman Lieutenant Commander Christine Sidenstricker said the vehicle was being loaded with weapons.

"Our information is that insurgents have been killed."

The U.S. military also reported the death of a service member in the western province of Farah while on patrol on Wednesday.

(Additional reporting by Golnar Motevalli, Jonathon Burch and Sayed Salahuddin in Kabul; writing by Peter Graff and Golnar Motevalli; Editing by Jon Hemming)