KABUL, Afghanistan — Militants blew up a suicide car bomb at the gate to
a NATO compound in Kabul early Tuesday and attacked guards with
small-arms fire, killing four guards and two civilians, police said. All
four suicide attackers were also killed.
Kabul provincial police chief Mohammad Ayuob Salangi said the powerful
car bomb blew up at about 4:30 a.m., leaving a deep crater at the first
gate leading into the camp. Two truck drivers who were waiting to enter
the area were killed in the blast, he said.
Three other suicide attackers wearing explosive vests then began
fighting with guards; all were killed. Salangi said the guards killed
were all Nepalese contractors.The Taliban later claimed it carried out the attack.
Salangi had no further details immediately and said the attack is being investigated.
It happened after the Interior Ministry announced Monday that insurgents
had killed nearly 300 Afghan local and national police in one month,
illustrating how casualties among local forces are mounting now that
NATO-led coalition troops have handed over responsibility for combat
operations.
Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi told reporters that 299 police
were killed in the last month, and another 618 were wounded. The
Defense Ministry said it did not have monthly figures for the number of
Afghan soldiers killed.
In the same time span, Sediqqi said 753 militants were killed in joint
operations with the military and others, and more than 300 were
arrested. Also, 180 civilians were killed.
Sediqqi did not provide comparison figures from previous months, but
according to an Associated Press count, the violence this year is
similar to its highest levels in nearly 12 years of war.
As Afghan forces have become more involved in security operations, they
have seen a sharp rise in deaths, while casualties among the U.S.-led
military coalition have fallen as the international forces pull back to
let the Afghans take the lead. The NATO coalition in June formally
handed over all security operations across the country to Afghan forces.
According to an AP count, 807 Afghan security force members — including
soldiers and police — and 365 civilians have been killed so far this
year through the end of May. A total of 63 coalition troops were also
killed in that span.
Last year through the end of May, Afghan security forces lost 365
soldiers and police, and 338 civilians were killed. Coalition forces
lost 177 troops during that time.
Sediqqi said the biggest danger facing the security forces were roadside bombs.
"That's where we have lots of fatalities," he said.
Even as he spoke, a regional police commander and three of his men were
killed when their vehicle hit a roadside bomb in the country's north.
Baghlan provincial police spokesman Jaweed Basharat said district
commander Habinul Rahman was killed when the bomb exploded next to his
vehicle while on patrol Monday morning.
In the western province of Badghis, 12 Taliban militants were killed in
two days of fighting at three border security posts, provincial
governor's spokesman Mirwas Mirzakwal said. Three policemen were
wounded, he said.(Source : The Newyork Times)
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