Geo World

21 killed in Afghan attacks

KANDAHAR: Taliban bomb and gun attacks on an official's compound and a militia base in the southern Afghan province of Uruzgan killed 21 people on Thursday, including a reporter of foreign news channel. Five hours of fighting were triggered after insurgents detonated a car bomb outside the deputy provincial governor's compound close to the main hospital in Trinkot, Uruzgan's capital, a provincial government spokesman told AFP. Gunmen also attacked the nearby base of a militia commander who provides security to NATO convoys. The assault was launched from a radio and television office where 25-year-old BBC reporter Ahmed Omed Khpulwak was killed. The interior ministry said seven suicide attackers had attacked different locations in Trinkot and a motorcyle bomb was remotely detonated outside the police headquarters. It was the deadliest attack to hit Afghanistan in more than a month and comes at a critical juncture in the nearly 10-year war as thousands of US surge troops prepare to go home and other Western nations announce limited drawdowns. All foreign combat forces are due to leave Afghanistan by the end of 2014 and last week a first set of security handovers from NATO to Afghan forces took place in seven parts of the country. "As a result of these savage attacks of the enemies of Afghanistan, 21 people including three policemen were martyred, and 38 others including three police were injured," the Afghan interior ministry said in a statement. Provincial government spokesman Milad Modaser said fighting ended five hours after the attack began at noon. "The fighting is over, security forces have entered the last building (the governor's office) and a clearance operation is underway," he said. Modaser said gunmen raided the Uruzgan radio and television station and from there attacked the base of Matiulllah Khan, a well-known militia commander whose fighters protect NATO convoys on the highway from Uruzgan to Kandahar city. An army spokesman in the southern region, Hekmatullah Kuchi, said one of the blasts at the deputy governor's office was caused by a suicide bomber, and a second was caused by an Afghan soldier shooting another suicide attacker. NATO's International Security Assistance Force sent reinforcements to the scene, including helicopters, to assist in quelling the assault. Taliban spokesman Qari Yousuf Ahmadi told AFP that the attackers were from the insurgent group, but denied killing the reporter, saying the police were responsible for his death. "Seven of our volunteers have attacked the deputy governor's office and Matiullah's base," said Ahmadi. (AFP)