2 GIs killed, 12 others wounded in Kabul blast

[IndianaGreen]

Source: MSNBC

2 GIs killed, 12 others wounded in Kabul blast

Suicide bomber targets American base, German Embassy in Afghan capital

KABUL, Afghanistan - A suicide car bomb attack on a heavily guarded road between the German Embassy and a U.S. military base in Kabul Saturday killed two U.S. troops and wounded 12 others.

Afghan officials said two Afghans were also killed and 23 wounded.

The Taliban claimed responsibility and said the bomber targeted German military personnel.

Earlier edits tonight:

On edit, this is what the BBC has:

A suicide car bombing outside the front gate of the German embassy in Kabul has killed at least three people including two US soldiers, say officials.

A child was among the dead and 12 people were wounded in the explosion near the US base, Camp Eggers.

Earlier reports said four US soldiers received non-life threatening injuries from shattered glass and debris.

The BBC's Martin Patience in Kabul says an eyewitness saw a suicide car bomber launch the attack.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7834852.stm

On second edit, WaPo mentions a car bombing that hit German Embassy and Camp Eggers. Initial report was that US soldiers had minor injuries:

The suicide bomber struck on a road lined with high concrete blast barriers that runs between the German embassy and Camp Eggers, the headquarters of a U.S. unit that trains the Afghan army and police. The presidential palace and United Nations headquarters in Afghanistan lie immediately behind Camp Eggers.

Seven civilians were also wounded in the attack, the private Tolo TV said.

Two U.S. military personnel at the base were slightly wounded and three more seriously from shattered windows and debris, but the perimeter walls were not penetrated, a spokesman said.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/17/AR2009011700410.html?hpid=moreheadlines

Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28701758/

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The fog of war. Can't tell what's going on!

I posted link to MSNBC story, which hasn't been updated with US casualties as of this posting.

[leftstreet]

1. War. What is it good for.

:-(

[ryanmuegge]

2. This is only the beginning. After Obama's escalation is complete, there will be more US casualties.

Escalations almost always lead to greater casualties.

Occupying Afghanistan worked out very well for the Soviets, didn't it?

[EFerrari]

3. Bring them home.

[kenny blankenship]

4. Kabul that's like the capital right? I thought we were winning over there

Oh well maybe in another 7 years we'll have this thing licked.

[IndianaGreen]

9. There is a consensus emerging in the Left that Afghanistan should be left alone

Afghanistan has been the graveyard of foreign armies going back to at least Alexander the Great.

[KakistocracyHater]

5. Berlin food drop=only way to win

it has been too many years, the Afghanis have been so savaged from everything I read & see; I've read that Karzai(who only is president of the city of Kabul) raged after another town was bombed that he himself would shoot down American bombers if he had his way.

Going all brutal authoritarian has wrecked far more than fixed-them & us; massive air drops of EDIBLE FOOD, not rubber turkeys/spoiled food/rotten food, & airdrops of medicine & other basic supplies 24/7 ONLY.

I predict that total CESSATION of ALL BOMBING RUNS & MILITARY STRIKES is the ONLY WAY to even begin to heal that devastated area. To do this takes TREMENDOUS COURAGE, & many will kick & scream that it's wrong; yet military heads have already pointed out that "to win" long-term is had via diplomacy. The military can always bomb & wreck again, it doesn't create jobs, stability, a nation-that is what civil planning does. The military mops up violent gangs/tribes/death squads/etc. They are short-term methods, real-life problems are not all solved at the point of a gun. Reagan said that spreading democracy at the point of a gun=failure, I'd say that each time a neocon gets angry that he can't "play war" because those neocons don't know shit about war, or anything else-except how to trick people & wreck both people & life in general.

Compare 2000 to 2009-what did the Right give us? What did the left give us?

[ohio2007]

8. they don't like peanut butter. They feed it to their mules

I remember reading articles about food drops done in the winter of 2001/2002 in remote areas. They don't like western type MRE's ect.

If they want to remain in the stone age, let the NATO employees and collaborators face the "fall of Saigon"

Kabul style


Lucky, we are not obliged to watch.

[KakistocracyHater]

11. Bushit mres are NOT what I meant

I specifically said REAL food, NOT ROTTEN, etc. I would expect intelligent decisions regarding what food to drop, as well as relevant medicines. I still stand firmly by my statemment, I have total confidence that it is the likeliest sole way to undue the bush-damage. He had a "reverse Midas touch", or inverted.

[lebkuchen]

6. Chalk it up to another Bush disaster

He has two more lives to mourn during his retirement, which will be busy if he really does mourn.

[llmart]

10. What?

You don't seriously think that asswipe mourns anyone, do you?

I know that's a rhetorical question, but please don't ever insinuate that he ever gave a shit about anyone but himself. He's a narcissist.

[babylonsister]

7. Suicide Bomber Kills One U.S. Soldier, Civilians in Kabul

Source: WaPo

Suicide Bomber Kills One U.S. Soldier, Civilians in Kabul

By Candace Rondeaux
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, January 17, 2009; 8:49 AM

KABUL, Afghanistan, Jan. 17 -- A Taliban suicide car bomb attack on a heavily guarded road that runs near a U.S. military base and the German Embassy in Kabul killed at least one U.S. soldier and two Afghan civilians Saturday and injured at least two dozen other civilians and soldiers.

The powerful explosion occurred around 9:45 a.m., shaking the foundations of buildings as far as two miles away and sending a wall of flames shooting up the front entrance of the German Embassy. Afghan authorities and U.S. military officials said the bomber drove his vehicle near the gates of the base and the embassy before detonating the explosives.

A Taliban spokesman immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, saying the embassy was targeted because of Germany's support for the U.S. led war in the region. Zabiullah Mujahid, the spokesman, said a suicide bomber named Shumse Rehman carried out the attack in a Toyota Corolla. He said the bomber targeted two vehicles believed to be carrying German military officers.

German Embassy officials could not be immediately reached for comment. But a German official in Berlin told the Associated Press that there were no German fatalities, although several embassy personnel were wounded in the blast.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/17/AR2009011700947.html