Rico says their count is running ahead of ours, but at least we're targeting the bad guys, not just people at random. The AP has an article by Amir Shah about
their bombs, and CNN has one about
ours:
A suicide bomber riding a motorcycle killed sixteen people, including two children and a policeman, and wounded at least 23 others Friday in a busy city square in western Afghanistan, officials said. Provincial Governor Rohul Amin said the blast occurred about 55 yards from his compound in a crowded square in Farah. Afghan police shouted "Stop! Stop!" at the motorcyclist before he detonated the explosives, provincial police chief Gen. Mohammad Faqir Askar said. It was unclear what the bomber was targeting. Amin said the sixteen killed included two children. Dr. Shir Agh Asas at the hospital in Farah city said several children also were among the wounded. A police officer also died. "These days Taliban are causing high casualties because the foreign forces and Afghan forces have been conducting operations against the insurgency in the region," Askar said. An operation three days ago in another part of the province killed five insurgents, including a Taliban commander and a bomb-maker, Askar said.
The violence comes a day after Afghan President Hamid Karzai, in his second inaugural address, said he has placed national reconciliation with insurgents at the top of his peace-building agenda. "We invite dissatisfied compatriots, who are not directly linked to international terrorism, to return to their homeland," he said. Karzai also set a five-year timetable for the Afghan security forces to take the lead in defending the nation, a goal that would allow international forces to take on more of a support role.
As the inaugural ceremony took place in Kabul on Thursday, a suicide bomber killed two U.S. service members in the southern province of Zabul, local officials and NATO said. Hours later, another suicide bomber blew himself up in a busy marketplace in another province, killing ten civilians, including three boys, and wounding thirteen other people. Also Friday, three civilians were wounded by a roadside bomb in Khost province, according to Wazir Pacha, deputy police chief of Khost.
Separately, NATO said Afghan and international forces killed a man in Takhar province in northern Afghanistan on Friday believed to be an operative with the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan who was responsible for financing militant activities and transporting foreign fighters into the region. The man was killed during a search of a compound in rural Bangi district, it said. According to NATO, there has been an increase in the number of Uzbek fighters in the ranks of the Taliban in northern Afghanistan from the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan.
A suspected drone fired two missiles at a house in northwestern Pakistan on Friday morning, killing eight militants and wounding several others, officials said. The target, a militant's house in Machi Khel, is near Mir Ali in North Waziristan, according to local and intelligence officials. Machi Khel has been the scene of clashes between Taliban militants and the Pakistani military.
As attacks in the country have escalated in recent days, so has the battle between troops and militants. A suicide bomber struck Thursday morning outside the gates of a court compound in Peshawar, killing at least 19 people and wounding 50. Four police officers were among the dead, officials said. The attack was the seventh deadly explosion in and around Peshawar in less than two weeks. A wave of suicide bombers has targeted police checkpoints, police stations, and the provincial headquarters of Pakistan's spy agency this month, killing dozens of people. Taliban commanders have claimed responsibility for several of the blasts and have vowed to intensify attacks against Pakistani security forces.
The Taliban appears to be retaliating for an ongoing Pakistani military offensive launched last month against militant strongholds in the mountainous region of South Waziristan, along Pakistan's border with Afghanistan. As Pakistani troops and militants fight fierce battles in South Waziristan, drone attacks against suspected Taliban targets continue. An attack in North Waziristan late Wednesday killed four people and wounded six others, a Pakistani intelligence official and a local official said. The U.S. military routinely offers no comment on reported drone attacks. However, it is the only country operating in the region known to have the ability to launch missiles from drones, which are controlled remotely.
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