A suicide bombing claimed by the Taliban, in a training center for police in the town of Tirin Kot in Uruzgan province in southern Afghanistan, claimed the lives of 25 law enforcement officers, including 5 senior officials. It is the bloodiest terrorist attack committed by the insurgency in Afghanistan so far this year in a country where, in the last 18 months, fighting has intensified everywhere: the Taliban and their allies versus Afghan forces and the NATO.
A terrorist wearing a police uniform infiltrated a reserve unit of the police in Tirin Kot and detonated the bomb he was carrying when the police stepped in. According to Interior Ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary, the police instructor noticed something suspicious in the attacker and decided to submit him to an interrogation, at which time the suicide bomber detonated the explosive charge.
Most victims died on the spot. The others who were seriously injured eventually died in the hospital. “It was terrible. We thought we were in a butcher shop,” explained Ahmed Shah, an ambulance driver who evacuated many of the wounded. Taliban spokesman Mohammad Yusuf Ahmadi claimed responsibility for the suicide attack, naming the suicide bomber as Mullah Abdul Qafar.
Both police and Afghan Army are training with foreign troops that usually launch joint operations against the Taliban. In 2008, 5,000 people lost their lives due to Taliban-related violence.
Via UPI
Posted by GSerrano on February 5, 2009 in News + Politics · 1 Comment
I’m not sure most people have a real “holistic” view of what’s going on over there… the truth is so incredibly complicated. For an insight into the mentoring of the ANA, and the ridiculousness that is a modern military apparatus, read “Don’t Clean the Table with a Floor Mop,” by a Naval officer who spent a year mentoring the Afghan National Army.