Deadly Afghan Bridge Bombing
A powerful bomb destroyed a bridge outside the southern Afghan city of Kandahar on Friday, killing 15 people on a bus, a deputy police chief said.
Only two people on the bus survived the explosion on the Rambasi Bridge, some six miles south of Kandahar, Ustad Nazir Jan said.
No one immediately took responsibility for the explosion, but Jan blamed fugitive members of the Taliban and al Qaeda.
Jan said he believed Afghan soldiers were the target of the explosion, which went off barely half a mile from an Afghan army post. Soldiers from that unit are loyal to Kandahar Governor Gul Agha Sherzai and routinely patrol the area, he said.
"We believe they were the target, but we are investigating," he said.
Witnesses at the bridge said body parts lay on the ground around the bus, which was left a twisted and mangled hulk.
"One hundred percent we are sure it was Taliban and al Qaeda," Jan said. "We will get the proof."
He said the explosion may also have involved guerrilla fighters loyal to renegade rebel commander Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. Authorities in Afghanistan and the U.S.-led military coalition believe that Hekmatyar's men are joining forces with Taliban and al Qaeda remnants to attack foreign soldiers and Afghan government troops.
Several soldiers were killed in a similar explosion about two months ago in Kandahar. A bomb went off as their jeep crossed a busy road.
On Sept. 5, an assassination attempt was made on Afghan President Hamid Karzai in southern Kandahar. The authorities also blamed Taliban and al Qaeda. The would-be assassin was killed by U.S. Special Forces guarding Karzai. Two bystanders also were killed.
Southern Kandahar is the former spiritual base of the Taliban religious militia, which was ousted by the U.S.-led assault on Afghanistan following the terrorist attacks on the United States on Sept. 11, 2001.
The U.S. military has a base at the Kandahar airport.
Early this week U.S.-led coalition forces waged a fierce battle against rebels in the mountains of southeastern Afghanistan. It was the biggest battle in almost a year. Eighteen guerrillas — men believed loyal to Hekmatyar — were killed.
On Thursday, U.S. special forces troops arrested two men they believed were plotting terror attacks against international targets in Afghanistan. A day earlier, two men were busted for possessing bomb-making material. There were also two grenade attacks on Western targets last week, but no one was injured.
Also on Thursday, four U.S. Marines were killed in a helicopter crash near the American air hub at Bagram. The Pentagon did not believe enemy fire caused the crash.
The crash brought the American death toll worldwide in Operation Enduring Freedom to 61. Twenty-two of the deaths have been the result of hostile action.