Suicide Attack on Afghan Ministry Kills At Least 5

Taliban claims responsibility; foreign advisers targeted

Police officers and firefighters work at the scene of a suicide attack in Kabul on Thursday, Oct. 30, 2008. (Photo credit: Omar Sobhani / Reuters)

The Associated Press and Reuters via MSNBC.com
October 30, 2008

KABUL, Afghanistan — A suicide bomber blew himself up inside the Afghan Ministry of Information and Culture on Thursday, killing at least five people, officials and witnesses said. The Taliban claimed responsibility. …

Zabiullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman, said three militants stormed the building by throwing hand grenades at the guards at the main gate. One carried out the suicide attack and the other two fled, he said. …

Thursday’s attack was the latest episode in escalating violence in Afghanistan this year, which has marked the bloodiest period since the Taliban’s ouster in 2001. …

On July 7, a suicide bomber detonated his explosives outside the gates of the Indian Embassy in Kabul, killing more than 60 people and wounding 146. …

It echoed growing frustration among many Afghans about insecurity, rampant corruption, lack of the rule of law and civilian casualties caused by foreign troops in strikes against the militants.

The Taliban have ruled out talks until foreign troops, led by the U.S. military and NATO, leave Afghanistan.

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U.S. Helicopter Shot Down in Afghanistan

Crew survive; separately, bomber kills 2 U.S. soldiers

October 27, 2008

KABUL, Afghanistan — Insurgents shot down a U.S. helicopter after exchanging fire with its crew in central Afghanistan on Monday, while a suicide bomber in the north killed two U.S. soldiers inside a police station, officials said.

The helicopter was forced down in Wardak, one province west of Kabul, after insurgents hit it with gunfire Monday, said Lt. Cmdr. Walter Matthew, a U.S. military spokesman. The crew survived and have been extracted from the area, he said. …

Wardak province has seen an increase in insurgent activity the last two years, and its main highway is now extremely risky to travel on, particularly at night. In mid-October, a U.S. Special Forces raid freed a kidnapped American working for the Army Corps of Engineers who had been held by his captors in Wardak for two months. …

Separately, a suicide bomber wearing a police uniform blew himself up inside a police station in northern Afghanistan on Monday, killing two American soldiers and wounding five other people, officials said. …

Militants in Afghanistan have in the past disguised themselves in police or army uniforms when attacking Afghan and foreign troops. But actual policemen in the Afghan force were responsible for at least two recent attacks in eastern Afghanistan in which two U.S. soldiers died after police opened fire on them in two separate incidents.

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Security Developments in Iraq

Following are security developments in Iraq on Oct. 28 and 29, 2008, as reported by Reuters.

MOSUL – A parked car bomb near a police patrol killed one policeman and wounded six others in southern Mosul, 240 miles north of Baghdad, police said.

BAGHDAD – A roadside bomb wounded four Education Ministry employees when it struck their minibus in northeastern Baghdad’s Ur district, police said.

MOSUL – Three soldiers on a foot patrol were seriously wounded by a bomb in western Mosul, north of Baghdad, police said.

RAMADI – A roadside bomb killed one civilian and wounded another in Ramadi, 60 miles west of Baghdad, police Major Alaa al-Dulaimi said.

BAQUBA – A roadside bomb killed a 4-year old girl and wounded eight other civilians including women and children at a market in central Baquba, 40 miles northeast of Baghdad, police said.

KIRKUK – A sticky bomb — designed to be easily attachable to targets by magnets or other means — that had been fixed to a police vehicle wounded two policemen in central Kirkuk, 155 miles north of Baghdad, police said.

MOSUL – A sniper shot dead an Iraqi soldier in western Mosul, police said.

MOSUL – A roadside bomb wounded three policemen when it struck their patrol in southeastern Mosul, police said.

MOSUL – Gunmen wounded an Iraqi policeman in a drive-by shooting in western Mosul, police said.

RAMADI – Iraqi police captured 12 militants smuggling roadside and sticky bombs into the city of Ramadi, 60 miles west of Baghdad, police Colonel Ahmed Hameed al-Sharqi of Anbar province police said.

BAGHDAD – A parked car bomb killed four people and wounded 10 others near a market in southwestern Baghdad’s Jihad district, police said. An interior ministry source put the toll at five people killed and 15 wounded.

MOSUL – Gunmen killed four police recruits and wounded five others in a drive-by shooting in western Mosul, 240 miles north of Baghdad, police said.

BAGHDAD – A roadside bomb wounded four people in the district of Nahda, in central Baghdad, police said.

BAGHDAD – Three people were wounded by a bomb blast in al-Nidhal street, central Baghdad, police said.

TAL AFAR – Police found a decomposed body inside a house under construction in Tal Afar, 260 miles northwest of Baghdad, police said.

HILLA – A body of a policeman was found with gunshot wounds to the head in central Hilla, 60 miles south of Baghdad, police said.

BAGHDAD – One civilian was killed and nine others were wounded by an explosion on Monday in Abu Ghraib, west of Baghdad, the U.S. military said.