Suicide car bomber targets ISAF convoy

FARAH CITY (PAN):  Two civilians were killed and five others wounded during a suicide attack attack in the Bala Baluk district of western Farah province, officials said on Saturday.

A tank of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) was also damaged in the car-bombing in Kinsak village late on Friday, a provincial police spokesman said.

Ahmad Tawab Askari told Pajhwok Afghan News the bomber targeted a convoy of foreign troops. However, he offered no information regarding NATO soldiers’ casualties.

In Kabul, the ISAF media office confirmed the attack. However, it said the international soldiers escaped unharmed.

But eyewitness Abdul Saboor claimed a man and a woman were killed in the bombing. He had no information regarding the number of the people injured in the incident.

Farah Civil Hospital Director Abdul Hakim Rasuli confirmed receiving two bodies and five wounded civilians from the blast site. 

While four of the injured were discharged after being administered first medical aid, one was referred to a hospital in Herat in critical condition.

As usual, the Taliban claimed responsibility for the assault on foreign troops. A spokesman for the group identified the bomber as Abdul Khaliq, a resident of Farah.

He said six US soldiers were killed and one of their tanks destroyed. A second armoured vehicle was damaged as a result of the blast, he added.

 “The government condemns this cruel attack on civilians and demands the enemies of Afghanistan stop targeting people with these weapons,” said Governor Dr. Mohammad Akram Khpalwak,

A statement from the Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force said Afghan security personnel transported the wounded to hospital to receive medical care.

pr/mud