The Taliban have claimed credit for a suicide attack today at an Afghan base that killed five ISAF and four Afghan soldiers in the eastern province of Laghman. The attack is the latest in the Taliban’s suicide offensive throughout Afghanistan.
A suicide bomber wearing a police uniform detonated his vest at a combined Afghan and ISAF base in the Qarghayi district in the eastern Afghan province of Laghman. The Taliban have claimed the attack in a press release on their website as well as in an email to reporters. In the email, the Taliban claimed that the suicide bomber was planted weeks ago and carried out his attack while ISAF and Afghan forces gathered early this morning.
“Today, when there was a meeting going on between Afghan and foreign soldiers, he used the opportunity to carry out the attack,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in the email.
In a press release at Voice of Jihad, the Taliban’s propaganda website, Mujahid identified the suicide bomber as Abdul Ghani and said the operation was planned a month ago.
“Saturday’s attack … was a pre-planned operation for the sake of which, the martyr-seeking Mujahid had joined the puppet military forces a month ago, and occurred when a number of the Afghans and US-NATO officials inducing the heads Tund and Sailab, two of the puppets’ military bases were busy holding a meeting within the facility,” Mujahid said in the press release.
The Taliban claimed that 26 ISAF and Afghan soldiers were killed in today’s attack. In their press releases, the Taliban wildly inflate the casualties and effects of their attacks.
Multiple terrorist groups operate in the Afghan east, including al Qaeda, the Tora Bora Brigade, Hizb-i-Islami Khalis, and the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba.
Today’s attack is the eighth in Afghanistan over the past three days. The recent wave of Taliban suicide attacks has targeted the police and pro-government tribal leaders.
Yesterday, a Taliban suicide bomber from the Mullah Dadullah Mahaz, or Mullah Dadullah Front, assassinated the chief of police for Kandahar province and two bodyguards. The suicide bomber was dressed as a policeman and detonated after hugging the police chief in his office.
On April 14, the Taliban carried out three attacks in Paktia, Kabul, and Kandahar. A suicide assault team killed three policemen in an attack at a training facility in Paktia; three people were wounded in an attack outside a government building in Kabul; and another was wounded in an attack that targeted police in Kandahar.
The Taliban also carried out three suicide attacks on April 13. The largest attack occurred in Kunar province, when a suicide bomber killed an influential pro-government tribal leader and warlord, along with nine other Afghans. In addition, 13 Afghans were wounded in suicide attacks in Kandahar and Kapisa.
5 Comments
It is apparent that the opfor is absolutely focused upon stopping the growth of Afghani defenses — especially their police.
Because of this some additional paranoia is in order: all higher ranking officers and officials must never congregate outside safe spaces — and even Afghanis in uniform have to be sniffed / wanded to catch the occasional infiltrator.
The Romans faced similar difficulties WRT command safety. They developed a rule-set. Lower ranks were only permitted to approach a top officer by invitation. Otherwise it was deemed treason and the punishment was brutal.
They stopped losing high officers, as a result.
i would like to suggest to all of the readers of this website to read a book “Butcher & Bolt: Two Hundred Years of Foreign Engagement in Afghanistan” by David Loyn. and compare this war with all the wars in the past two hundred years.
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/non-fiction/article5146806.ece
Not good news. Followed with 3 more soldiers dying today.
Mansoor…
Max Hastings street cred took a HUGE hit with that piece.
He writes as if he is still unaware that the reason the Taliban collapsed in 2001 was the withdrawal of Pakistan’s support.
He also doesn’t seem to know that a major airlift of Taliban notables Islamabad pulled their chestnuts out of the fire in 2001 — with the explicit permission of Bush!
He also doesn’t seem to recognize that it is Pakistan that is occupying Kabul in the guise of the Taliban.
The anti-Soviet war became a cash-cow racket for Islamabad. They never had it so good. They skimmed off the top, the sides and the bottom. Thatcher and Reagan didn’t destroy Pakistan — they were an entirely self-corrupting society — from the get go.
Their generals have a finger in plenty of pot pies — as do their major politicians. The place is run like Egypt, Tunisia, Libya or Yemen, all of whom are as corrupt as the day is long — and have never seen the ‘ills’ of Thatcher.
BTW, it was Thatcher, not Wilson, that provided the first ManPADS to the Muj. Only after British success did the CIA finally cave and issue Stingers. The movie has it entirely wrong on that. In fact, the movie leaves the British out entirely. You can’t get more wrong than that.
Blert ….
You want to learn it by experiencing it yourself…. No problems go ahead