Taliban bombing and killing Afghans in Wardak and Kunar Province

Taliban bombers hit Afghanistan Wardak intelligence HQ

More than 100 people - mostly civilians - were injured in the attack, police said

At least four Afghan intelligence staff have been killed after suicide bombers attacked offices of the provincial intelligence department in Wardak.

Five suicide bombers were shot dead in the series of co-ordinated attacks, an hour away from the capital Kabul.

More than 100 people - mostly civilians - were injured, police said.

Separately a Nato air strike on Saturday in the eastern province of Kunar killed 15 people, including nine civilians, Afghan officials said.

But a Nato spokeswoman told the BBC that a precision attack had killed 10 insurgents and that she had no reports of civilians dying.

Huge explosion

Police say that that the suicide bombers in Wardak were targeting key government offices within the provincial intelligence department in Maidan Shar, the capital city of Wardak.

Nearby buildings and shops were destroyed, a statement from the governor's office said.

The Taliban have claimed responsibility for the attack.

In a statement, the governor's office said at least six militants launched the attack shortly after a powerful car bomb was detonated by a suicide attacker.

Local shopkeepers told the BBC that the explosion was so powerful that it broke windows of homes at least 1km (0.6 miles) away.

Afghan special forces engaged the five other attackers in heavy exchanges of fire.

Taliban insurgents and al-Qaeda fighters use Wardak as a gateway to launch attacks on nearby Kabul province.

They also frequently launch attacks in Kunar province, which borders Pakistan's lawless tribal areas.
Harsh terrain
Police in Kunar told the BBC's Bilal Sarwary in Kabul that the airstrike on Saturday hit a pick-up truck soon after three Arab and three Afghan militants boarded it in the village of Gambir in the remote and mountainous Peach River Valley in Watapur district on Saturday evening.

The Afghan National Army faces a stern challenge in Kunar province from the Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters

 

Civilian casualties are a source of tension between Afghan and Nato forces.

In February President Karzai ordered a ban on Afghan security forces calling in air strikes in residential areas after 10 civilians were allegedly killed in a Nato night attack in Kunar.

Nato troops are scheduled to withdraw from Afghanistan by the end of 2014 and have gradually been handing over responsibility for security to their Afghan counterparts, who now lead about 90% of all security operations.

Yet the Afghan air force has limited strength, so Nato air support is considered crucial, especially for operations in harsh terrain and mountainous areas.

Officials say that women and children were among the casualties.

The Kunar area has been the site of intense fighting between the Taliban and American and Afghan forces for much of the last 10 years.

In August 2012 a US drone attack in Kunar killed Mullah Dadullah, a high-ranking Pakistani Taliban commander. In May of that year Nato said that an air strike had killed senior al-Qaeda leader Sakhar al-Taifi in the same province.

About 1,000 Afghan civilians have been killed and more than 2,000 wounded in the first half of this year - most of them in insurgent attacks - according to the United Nations.

This represents a 23% increase in casualties compared with the same period last year.

What do suicide bombers accomplish?

Afghan Taliban battle police in central Kabul

There was a large explosion at the beginning of the attack

 

Afghan security forces have fought Taliban insurgents for hours in the centre of Kabul, after a major explosion shook the city.

A Nepali guard and an off-duty policeman were killed, along with a number of militants.

The attack hit a guesthouse used by the International Organization for Migration, one of whose employees was badly injured.

The Taliban told the BBC it was targeting CIA trainers.

The attack began at about 16:00 local time (11:30 GMT) with a car bombing, and it was late evening in Kabul by the time interior ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said the last of the assailants had been killed.

The militants, who officials said numbered five or six, had been holed up in the area, home to a number of buildings used by foreign workers.

"We are dealing with a well co-ordinated attack," Kabul police chief Gen Ayub Salangi told the BBC as the attack unfolded.

He said seven policemen had been injured.

A Taliban spokesman said the group had targeted CIA trainers instructing Afghans at the National Directorate of Security (NDS) intelligence agency.

The IOM, which is affiliated to the UN, said three of its employees had been injured, one of them seriously burned by a grenade. An employee of the International Labour Organization was also wounded.
'Spring offensive'
It was not clear whether the guesthouse used by the IOM employees was the Taliban's main target.

UN special envoy Jan Kubis strongly condemned the attack, and said all UN staff had been accounted for.

During the assault, Afghan TV Channel One quoted police as saying a group of militants had taken up position inside the nearby headquarters of the Directorate of the Afghan Public Protection Force (APPF).

A hospital run by the NDS is also in the area.

The initial explosion was felt several kilometres away, shattering shop windows and sending a plume of smoke into the sky. There were reports of smaller, subsequent blasts.

Graeme Smith, who works for the think tank Crisis Group and lives in the New City neighbourhood about 1km (0.6 miles) away from the site of the fighting, said he had heard a constant exchange of gunfire for several hours.

"It seems to have been contained, which shows how robust the Afghan forces are in the capital," he said.

"In more rural parts of the country this would have had a much bigger impact."

The Taliban announced a "spring offensive" in April, saying it would target foreign military bases and diplomatic areas.

Last week another Islamist militant group, Hezb-e-Islami, said it had carried out an attack on a military convoy in Kabul in which at least 15 people were killed and dozens injured.

In the last major attack in Kabul before that, a suicide bomber blew himself up near the defence ministry, killing nine people.

Most international troops are scheduled to leave Afghanistan by the end of 2014. Afghan forces are due to take responsibility for the security of the whole country in the next few months, for the first time since 1992.

Don't shoot Sikhs.

Sikhs are not Muslims, so don't shoot them.

And while we're on the topic, don't shoot Muslims either!

And don't shoot Christians either!

In fact, i'll just throw this idea out there:   DON'T SHOOT ANYONE. 


I have another idea.


If you are going to detonate a suicide bomb, please don't do it at a wedding.  It might ruin the wedding and kill people. 

Also, try not to do it at funerals or busy outdoor markets where people are trying to live their lives.

In fact:  DON'T BE A SUICIDE BOMBER AND WE WON'T HAVE THIS PROBLEM!