52 dead in Nimroz, Kunduz assaults

ZARANJ/ KUNDUZ CITY (PAN): Fifty-two people, including policemen, were killed and more than 168 others wounded in multiple suicide bombings in southeastern Nimroz and Kunduz provinces, officials said on Wednesday.

Tuesday’s explosions rocked different neighbourhoods of Zaranj, the provincial capital, where three of 11 bombers blew themselves up, the police chief said.

Col. Mohammad Musa Rasuli told Pajhwok Afghan News 19 civilians and three policemen were killed and 31 others, including 11 policemen, wounded during the first blast in front of the civil hospital.

A second attacker detonated his suicide vest near the 4th police district commander, Maj. Najibullah’s vehicle, injuring him and two of his subordinates. A third bomber blew himself up near the urban court.

A total of eight bombers wanted to conduct simultaneous attacks across the city, but two of them were killed during a raid in the Khwaja Karim area and three others were detained on Tuesday morning.

Public Health Director Noor Ahmad Sherzad put the number of dead at 30 and injured at 130. A woman and several children were among the fatalities and a nurse among the injured.

Twenty-seven of the injured, who were in critical condition, were evacuated to an ISAF health facility in Helmand province. Influential local resident, Haji Massoud, said that 38 people including children and youth were killed in the multiple bombings.

Separately, 22 civilians were killed and more 38 others injured on Tuesday evening when an explosives-laden motorcycle exploded in the Dash-i-Archi district bazaar.

A dozen people were killed and 34 others wounded in the blast, said the governor’s spokesman, Inayatullah Khaliq. But Public Health Director Dr. Saad Mukhtar said two of the wounded later succumbed to their injuries, increasing the number of fatalities to 14.  He said 12 of the wounded were in critical condition.

Meanwhile, President Hamid Karzai denounced the triple suicide attack on fasting Muslims as an inhuman act, saying that the perpetrators would earn nothing but the wrath of Allah and the people.

“The terrorists, the enemies of the Afghans, are stooping too low to give up violence even in Ramazan, the holy month of blessings and worship,” said the president, who is currently in Saudi Arabia to attend a two-day OIC summit.

The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) also strongly condemned the multiple suicide bombings in Nimroz and Kunduz provinces.

Gen. John R. Allen, the ISAF commander, said in a statement: “What we saw today were further acts of intentional mass murder. By targeting innocent civilians in populated areas, the insurgents have again shown they will kill non-combatants without hesitation to advance their backward-looking plans…”

myn/mud

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