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Suicide Bomber Kills 13 in Afghanistan Suicide Bomber Attacks Joint Patrol in Eastern Afghanistan
(about 4 hours later)
KABUL, Afghanistan — A suicide bomber who walked into the crowded center of Khost City in eastern Afghanistan on Monday morning as foreign and Afghan soldiers mounted a joint foot patrol killed three international service members and at least 10 Afghan police officers and civilians, according to witnesses and local hospitals. KABUL, Afghanistan — A suicide bomber who walked into the crowded center of Khost City in eastern Afghanistan on Monday morning as foreign and Afghan soldiers conducted a joint foot patrol killed three international service members and 16 Afghan police officers and civilians, according to witnesses and local hospitals.
A spokesman for the American-led coalition forces here said that three international service members and a civilian translator were killed in the blast, but he did not specify the location, in accordance with military rules barring the release of information about deaths until the next of kin are informed. A spokesman for the American-led coalition forces here said that three international service members and a civilian translator died in a blast in eastern Afghanistan, but he did not specify the location, in accordance with military rules barring the release of information about deaths until the next of kin are informed.
The Taliban took credit for the attack. “A foreign and Afghan force joint convoy was targeted this morning around 9 a.m. at the vicinity of Khost Governor Office, while the soldiers were dismounted in the area,” the Taliban said in a statement to the news media. “The attack was carried out with a suicide vest worn by one of our hero mujahid, named Shoiab Kunduzi.” The Taliban took credit for the attack. “A foreign and Afghan force joint convoy was targeted this morning around 9 a.m. in the vicinity of the Khost Governor’s Office, while the soldiers were dismounted in the area,” the Taliban said in a statement to the news media. “The attack was carried out with a suicide vest worn by one of our hero mujahid, named Shoiab Kunduzi.”
Among the 10 Afghan dead were four police officers from the Khost Quick Reaction Force, including the force’s commander. More than 60 Afghan civilians were wounded in the blast, according to doctors at the government-run Khost Provincial Hospital and private hospitals that were also receiving the wounded. It was the fourth suicide bombing in the province in the last five months and the third time that the targets weret in Khost City, the provincial capital, said local officials. The other two were an attack near the gates of Camp Salerno, the major American base in the area, which lies barely five miles from the provincial capital; and at a military checkpoint in the city.
The Khost governor’s office condemned the attack. . The repeated attacks suggest that despite intensive operations over the past several years by the international coalition forces, the area remains heavily infiltrated.
Khost is on the border with Pakistan near Miram Shah, the capital of North Waziristan, in the ungoverned tribal areas. Miram Shah is the home base of the Haqqani network, a powerful element of the Afghan insurgency, which is affiliated with the Taliban and which the United States says has ties with Pakistan. It has been responsible for staging some of the most sophisticated suicide bombings, and it has infiltrated Khost Province. The international and Afghan troops routinely pick up Haqqani-linked insurgents as well as bomb makers and financiers in Khost. According to shopkeepers who were nearby when Monday’s attack took place, the suicide bomber approached the patrol.
Attacks by bombers wearing suicide vests can be especially lethal since they are typically able to get much closer to their targets, and even the extensive body armor worn by international forces leaves some parts of the body vulnerable, said Maj. Adam Wojack, a spokesman for the coalition. “Even though our individuals wear helmets and body armor, so much of their body is still vunerable,” Major Wojack said. “It’s the shrapnel, more than the blast, the legs, arms, necks, face are unprotected, and suicide bombers on foot can get closer; they are can be feet away from their victims.” The vulnerability of Afghan civilians is far greater. “It was around 9:00 a.m., the bazaar was overcrowded,” said a shopkeeper who asked that his name not be used. “We were busy with customers, but I noticed a joint coalition force and Afghan Police force on a dismounted patrol; they were approaching our shops. The commanders of both the Afghan and coalition forces were at the front of the column and the rest of the forces were following them. The first soldiers in the column had just reached to the beginning of our lane of shops, when we heard a really loud bang followed by gunfire. “

An employee of The New York Times in Khost, Afghanistan, contributed reporting.

“A big ball of gray smoke went into the air. People in bazaar started running away from the blast site. We all hurriedly closed our shops and ran away.”
Another shopkeeper, Baburi Gul, was so close he was knocked unconscious by the blast. He said he saw the joint patrol pass by his small grocery.. “As soon as the last person passed there was a boom, and I lost consciousness,” he said. “When I regained it, I found myself lying on the ground and I was bleeding. I looked at street and I saw bodies everywhere, American, police, and civilians.”
Among the 16 Afghan dead were six police officers at least three from the Khost Quick Reaction Force, including the force’s commander. Khost’s governor, Abdul Jabar Naimi condemned the attack and said that 59 Afghans were wounded in the blast, including three police. The numbers were corroborated by doctors at the government run Khost Provincial Hospital and at private hospitals that were also receiving the wounded.
Khost is on the border with Pakistan near Miram Shah, the capital of North Waziristan, in the ungoverned tribal areas and it is heavily infiltrated with insurgent groups including the Taliban, Hizb-e-Islami and the Haqqani network a powerful element of the Afghan insurgency, which is affiliated with the Taliban and which the United States says has ties with Pakistan. While the Haqqanis are headquartered in Miram Shah, there was no immediate evidence that they were behind this bombing, said international military officials.
Attacks by bombers wearing suicide vests can be especially lethal since they are typically able to get much closer to their targets, and even the extensive body armor worn by international forces leaves some parts of the body vulnerable, said Maj. Adam Wojack, a spokesman for the coalition.
“Even though our individuals wear helmets and body armor, so much of their body is still vunerable,” Major Wojack said. “It’s the shrapnel, more than the blast, the legs, arms, necks, face are unprotected, and suicide bombers on foot can get closer; they are can be feet away from their victims.” The vulnerability of Afghan civilians is far greater.