| A tough time for the US Army in Afghanistan |
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| World Affairs Talk | |
| Monday, 18 June 2007 | |
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The Talibans gained new confidence and new tactics and their campaign against the government and foreign forces has been increasingly successful since the beginning of this year. On 17 June, a bomb blew up inside a police bus in the middle of the Afghan capital Kabul, leaving more than 35 people killed. It was a suicide attack and claimed by Taliban insurgents. The bomb tore apart the bus and several other vehicles nearby, scattering body parts over the scene. The bomb exploded during the morning rush hour, near the headquarters of Kabul's police chief, at a time when buses normally ferried police officers to their posts. The incident came hours before a ceremony on the other side of the city to mark the handing over of the police training programme from German authority to that of a EU mission. On 18 June an air strike by the US force on an Afghan religious school left seven children killed. ZThe incident occurred in Paktika province. The US force thought that several Al-quieda militants were there but killed the innocent children instead. Only in 2007, more than 2,300 people died in insurgency-related violence in Afghanistan. According to the US Defense Department, as of June 16, 2007, at least 335 members of the US military have died in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan as a result of the US invasion of Afghanistan. Of those, the military reports 214 were killed by hostile action. Violence has spiked around Afghanistan in recent weeks. In most recent times, Afghan police backed by foreign forces killed 26 Taliban militants, including several commanders, in two operations in the volatile southern region. In the east of the country, around Jalalabad, suicide bombings have become such frequent occurrences that the road from there to Kabul is now known as "the Baghdad road". Share & Bookmark             |
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| Last Updated ( Tuesday, 19 June 2007 ) |
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