Suicide Attack Kills U.S. Soldiers In Kabul
Posted September 8, 2006 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A suicide bomber drove an explosives-packed car into a U.S. military convoy in Kabul Friday, killing himself and at least 16 others.
Two American soldiers died in the attack, and two others were among 29 people injured.
The blast occurred near the American Embassy in Kabul and came as NATO officials appealed for more soldiers to fight Taliban insurgents.
One British general contends fighting in the southern area of Afghanistan, where Canadian troops are leading an offensive against the rebels, is now more vicious than in Iraq.
“The fighting is extraordinarily intense,” confirmed Brig. Ed Butler, the commander of British Forces in Afghanistan. “The intensity and ferocity of the fighting is far greater than in Iraq on a daily basis.”
Coalition forces launched air strikes and mortar attacks on Taliban positions in the region of Panjwaii overnight. There are about 20,000 troops currently in the country, including about 2,200 Canadian soldiers.
The Kabul suicide bombing was one of the worst in the country’s capital in years, blowing apart pieces of an American military vehicle and shattering downtown windows.
One witness, Najibullah Faizi, reported seeing a blue Toyota Corolla ram one of two U.S. Humvees in a convoy.
“I fell to the ground after the blast,” Faizi, 25, told reporters. “American soldiers started shooting at another car nearby. There was smoke and flames everywhere.”
Also on Friday a would-be suicide attacker killed only himself when the bombs in his car went off early in Kandahar.
Major suicide attacks in Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban in late 2001:
Sept. 8 — Car bomber rams U.S. convoy in Kabul, killing himself a 16 others, including two American soldiers.
Sept. 4 — Suicide car bombing kills one British soldier, four Afghans in Kabul.
Aug. 28 — Suicide bomber targeting an ex-police chief in Helmand provincial capital of Lashkar Gah kills 21 civilians.
Aug. 3 — Suicide car bombing near Canadian military vehicles in a town market in Kandahar province kills 21 civilians.
Jan. 16 — A man with explosives strapped to his body drives a motorbike into a crowd watching a wrestling match in an Afghan-Pakistani border town in Kandahar province and kills 21 people.
Jan. 15 — A car bomber slams into a Canadian military convoy in Kandahar city, killing two passers-by and a senior Canadian diplomat.
Jan. 5 — An insurgent blows himself up in a town in central Uruzgan province during a supposedly secret visit by the U.S. ambassador, killing 10 Afghans.
Nov. 14, 2005 — Twin suicide car bombings target NATO peacekeepers in Kabul, killing a German soldier and eight Afghans.
Oct. 10, 2005 — Two suicide attackers explode bombs in the southern city of Kandahar, killing three people.
Sept. 28, 2005 — A militant on a motorbike kills nine Afghan soldiers when he blows himself up outside an army training centre in Kabul.
June 1, 2005 — A suspected al-Qaida fighter detonates explosives strapped to his body in a mosque in Kandahar city, killing 20 worshippers.
May 8, 2005 — A insurgent kills a UN worker from Myanmar and an Afghan in an attack on an Internet cafe in Kabul.
Dec. 29, 2003 — Five Afghan security officers are killed when a man they arrested blows himself up in Kabul.
June 7, 2003 — A taxi packed with explosives blows up near a bus carrying German peacekeepers as they were driving to Kabul airport to fly home, killing four soldiers and an Afghan.
