Suicide Bombing in Kabul

"LandepNews"

Suicide Bombing in Kabul

At least 13 American soldiers are said to have been killed on Saturday when a Taliban suicide bomber attacked a NATO armored shuttle bus, causing 20 people to die and the American troops to suffer the worst loss of life in the capital of Afghanistan in several years. The attack on the bus that was heavily armored occurred in front of Afghan University, a route that is often traveled by the American troops, especially the trainers on their way to the Military Training Center in Kabul. Eight civilians were also reported among the dead, two of them believed to be children.

The attack was claimed by the Taliban, who even disclosed the name of the bomber, Abdul Rahman Hazarbos, who drove a truck with 1,500 pounds of explosives in it into a military training bus, killing all in it. According to the Taliban, there were 25 casualties.

The NATO coalition in Afghanistan confirmed that there was an attack and that there were casualties but it would not say anything about their nationalities or number.

Three Australian soldiers were also killed on Saturday by an Afghan soldier who turned his weapon on them. The Australians were killed at a military base, where they were training Afghan security forces.

The attacker was said to have been a trainee who had completed his first stage of training. The Afghan authorities do not know the cause but they did confirm that the man was killed soon after by the other trainees. The incident happened in the province of Kandahar.

Another three violent incidents were reported in Afghanistan over the past 24 hours. A NATO and Afghan military convoy was attacked on Nangarhar province on Friday, gunmen attacked a car. On Saturday, a woman attacked governmental offices, wounding four.

This spree of attacks, which seems directed by the Taliban against the military might of the Afghan forces, comes after a all-out attack of the US-led coalition against the Haqqani network in various parts of the country.

The coalition announced that 200 people have been killed by the Americans, in an effort to tackle the threat posed by the insurgent groups before the American troops are expected to withdraw from Afghanistan by 2014.

In a visit to Islamabad, US State Secretary Hillary Clinton demanded the Pakistani allies to engage in serious battle against Haqqani network, an organization which is believed to have connections with the al-Qaeda.

The demand of the State Secretary comes after Pakistan was accused on various occasions of having cooperated with the insurgents.

Last week the Afghan president was caught up in a press scandal as he was quoted to have said that if the Americans were to launch an attack on the Pakistanis Afghanistan would stand with Pakistan.

The presidential office explained that the president did not mean the words exactly as they sounded but wanted to express his gratitude toward Pakistan, which has taken in hundreds of thousands Afghans since the beginning of the war ten years ago.

The fact that the television anchor in Pakistan felt compelled to ask him about the situation in case of war shows that the relations between Washington and Islamabad are very tense.

The United States has cut off the economic aid for Pakistan as a result of the killing of Osama bin Laden on Pakistani territory. In September, Pakistani foreign intelligence services were accused of having cooperated with Haqqani to execute the terrorist attack on the American embassy in Kabul.

The Taliban have made a show of force during the summer, as they committed a spree of terrorist attacks in Afghanistan, killing the half-brother of the president, one of his closest advisors, the mayor of Kandahar, a former president of the country.

This surge of violence prompted the Americans to think about engaging the insurgent groups and finish them before they leave Afghanistan. One of the most efficient means was the drone attack, which produced some casualties among the Taliban, but was heavily criticized by both the Afghan and Pakistani officials, which decried the killing of civilians during these attacks.

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