Afghan governor killed by suicide bomber

[maddezmom]

KABUL, Afghanistan - A suicide bombing killed the governor of Afghanistan's eastern Paktika province and two other people outside his home Sunday, police said.

Three others were wounded in the attack outside Gov. Abdul Hakim Taniwal's house in the provincial capital of Gardez, said provincial police chief Abdul Annan Raufi.

Taliban-led militants have stepped up attacks in Afghanistan this year, including suicide bombings. More than 100 Taliban fighters raided a government compound in western Afghanistan early Sunday, while NATO and Afghan forces killed 94 Taliban fighters in airstrikes and ground attacks in southern Afghanistan, police and military alliance sources said.

Taliban fighters riding in pickup trucks and firing rocket-propelled grenades and AK-47 assault rifles attacked the compound in the Farah provincial town of Kalaigar at about 1 a.m., said provincial police chief Sayed Agha. Two police were killed by the Taliban, who also burned two rooms of the compound and a health clinic in the town, said Agha.

more:http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060910/ap_on_re_as/afghan_violence

[saigon68]

1. Another Quisling Puppet "Bites the dust"

Looks like the Mayor of Kabul isn't doing his job.

[izzie]

2. Nice we paid all those people so much money to keep this

all down. Bang for your tax dollars. I am not sure which country has the third rate govt. any more. Them or us.

[brokensymmetry]

3. You never mention the good news.

Somewhere within Afghanistan, a school has been painted.
I mean, sometime in the last year or so. No, really!

Anyway, freedom is on the march! We're winning! Stay
the course! The Taliban are Nazis!

:sarcasm:

[maddezmom]

4. not sure this is good news: Making every drop count, Coke opens in Afghani

KABUL (Reuters) - The blind cleric's haunting Arabic prayer chant echoed among the sterile plastic rows of Coke and Fanta, seeking Allah's blessing for the only major business to open in Afghanistan in more than a decade.

Coca-Cola, with its distinctive red-and-white logo, has come to Kabul in what is at once a sign of economic progress and a symbol of the failure of major businesses to open up in the five years since the fall of the hardline Islamist Taliban.

President Hamid Karzai opened the $25 million bottling plant in the capital's industrial complex of Bagrami, meaning sweet or fragrant, on Sunday.

Karzai's Western-backed government is desperate to kickstart an economy independent of the $3 billion-a-year illegal drugs trade, but has been unable to lure investors to one of the world's five poorest countries, where violence has hit a high since the 2001 war.

more:http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060910/wl_nm/afghan_coke_dc_1;_

But at least it's not about bombings, deaths, suicide bombers, on coming drought, etc.

[maddezmom]

5. back to bad news:U.S. military: Suicide cell in Kabul

KABUL, Afghanistan - A suicide bombing cell is operating in the Afghan capital with the aim of targeting foreign troops, the U.S. military said Sunday.

"Through our intelligence sources we know there's a cell here in Kabul, at least one, whose primary mission is to seek coalition or international troops and hit them with suicide bombs," Col. Tom Collins, the chief U.S. spokesman, said at a news conference in Kabul.

~snip~

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060910/ap_on_re_as/afghan_violence_5

[enigma000]

7. Perhaps they are Pepsi drinkers ;) n/t

[maddezmom]

8. this link has been updated: 2 more troops killed in Afghanistan

!~snip~

The alliance also said two U.S.-led coalition soldiers, working with the Afghan army, had died in combat late Saturday — one in the NATO-led offensive in Panjwayi, the other in neighboring Zabul province. It did not give their nationalities, but most troops in the coalition are American.

Operation Medusa began Sept. 2 in Panjwayi, where hundreds of militants had mobilized just 15 miles west of the main southern city of Kandahar city — the former seat of the Taliban government. It's one of the most intense military confrontations since the ouster of the Taliban.

NATO said in a statement that the latest insurgent casualties were inflicted in four separate engagements using artillery and air strikes. NATO's casualty figures cannot be independently confirmed. Purported Taliban spokesmen have disputed them.

The anti-insurgent blitz comes amid concerns that NATO lacks enough troops to succeed in its mission.

In Poland, Gen. Ray Henault, chief of NATO's military committee, said Saturday he would formally ask the alliance's 26 member states on Monday to provide up to 2,500 more troops to supplement the 8,000 mostly British, Canadian and Dutch forces it already has in the volatile region.

more:http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060910/ap_on_re_as/afghanistan

:(

[rodeodance]

6. they are in many different areas-speading out the small forces of NATO

[struggle4progress]

9. Afghan Governor Killed in Suicide Attack (NYT)

By CARLOTTA GALL
Published: September 10, 2006

.. The governor, Muhammad Hakim Taniwal of Paktia Province, southeast of the capital, was the first to be killed since the Taliban began a campaign of suicide bombings last year, especially targeting senior government officials. At least two other governors and the chairman of the upper house of Parliament have narrowly escaped death in similar attacks.

The bombings have come at a furious rate this year, with 47 so far, including the suicide attack that killed 14 Afghan civilians and two American soldiers in the capital on Friday. They have unnerved the public and Mr. Karzai’s government, raising fears of an Iraq-style escalation of violence in large cities ..

Two Americans were reported killed in the fighting in southern Afghanistan, NATO officials said. The two were Special Forces trainers embedded with Afghan Army troops, and they died in separate incidents Saturday night: one in Kandahar Province and the other in neighboring Zabul Province ..

Last week, the governor of Kandahar, Asadullah Khalid, said he had learned that a family of 13 had been killed in an airstrike on their house in the area. The NATO spokesman in Kabul, Mark Laity, said the command was not aware of any confirmed civilian casualties but was not denying the possibility ..

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/10/world/asia/10cnd-afghan.html?hp&ex=1157947200&en=eeae94aa1c1422c4&ei=5094&partner=homepage

[leesa]

10. "Things are going swimmingly in Afghanistan" Anthrax Annie sez

[cal04]

11. Suicide Bomber Kills a Governor in Afghanistan

A provincial governor and close friend of President Hamid Karzai was killed along with two staff members by a suicide bomber as they drove away from the governor’s office on Sunday, government officials said.

The governor, Hakim Taniwal of Paktia Province, southeast of the capital, is the highest-ranking official to be killed since the Taliban began a campaign of suicide bombings last year, especially singling out senior government officials. At least two other governors and the chairman of the upper house of Parliament have narrowly escaped death in similar attacks.

The bombings have come at a furious rate this year, with 47 so far, including the suicide attack that killed 14 Afghan civilians and two American soldiers in the capital on Friday. They have unnerved the public and Mr. Karzai’s government, raising fears of an Iraq-style escalation of violence in large cities.

The governor was assassinated as heavy fighting continued in southern Afghanistan, where NATO and Afghan forces have been battling wave after wave of Taliban fighters in an attempt to drive them out of two districts just west of Kandahar, the main city in the south. At the same time, military leaders of NATO countries wrapped up a meeting in Warsaw without any firm commitments to answer the NATO command’s call for 2,000 to 2,500 extra troops to help in the offensive in the south.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/11/world/asia/11afghan.html?hp&ex=1157947200&en=0e9f4b752c2b5c0e&ei=5094&partner=homepage

[whistle]

12. The drug turf wars continue in Afghanistan

[Eugene]

13. AP: Afghan Governor's Funeral Hit by Bombing

Afghan Governor's Funeral Hit by Bombing


Monday September 11, 2006 12:46 PM

AP Photo LON236

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - A suicide bomber struck Monday in eastern Afghanistan
at the funeral of a provincial governor who died in a suicide blast the previous
day, police and witnesses said. At least five people were killed.

Monday's blast went off near a tent in Tani district of Khost province at the
funeral for Gov. Abdul Hakim Taniwal, who died with two others in a suicide
attack outside his office in neighboring Paktia province Sunday, said police
official Ahmad Jan.

Jan said at least five people, including four police, died in Monday's attack.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6072340,00.html