War News for Tuesday, December 06, 2011

Reported security incidents





Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Afghan officials say 48 people have been killed in a suicide bombing targeting Shiite worshippers marking a holy day in Kabul on Tuesday. The Kabul attacker blew himself up in the midst of a crowd of men, women and children gathered outside the Abul Fazl shrine to commemorate the seventh century death of the Prophet Muhammad's grandson Imam Hussein. Some men were beating themselves in mourning and food was being distributed. Mohammed Zahir, chief of the Kabul Criminal Investigation Department, gave the death toll and said more than 100 people were wounded. A bomb strapped to a bicycle also exploded as a convoy of Afghan Shiites was driving down the road, shouting slogans for the festival known as Ashoura, in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif. Four people were killed, officials said.

#2: An explosion rocked Kandahar city in south Afghanistan on Tuesday, injuring five people including three civilians, provincial police chief Abdul Razeq said. "The terrorists planted a bomb in the cavities of a motorbike and detonated in Charso Chowk of Kandahar city at around 01:00 p.m. local time as a result two policemen and three civilians were injured," Razeq told Xinhua.

#3: An explosion hit the Balkh provincial capital Mazar-e-Sharif, 305 km north of Kabul on Tuesday, killing four people and injuring four others, all civilians, police spokesman in the northern region Lal Mohammad Ahmadzai said. "The terrorists planted an explosive device inside a handcart and detonated it by remote control killing four people and injuring four others, all are innocent civilians," Ahmadzai told Xinhua.

#4: Two Afghan policemen were killed in an operation in the country's northern relatively peaceful province of Badakhshan, a spokesman for the provincial government said on Tuesday. "Police have launched a cleanup operation on Monday in Aakhsira area of Wardoj district to capture a group of irresponsible armed men who have been challenging peace and stability in the area," Mohammad Maruf Rasikh told Xinhua. "There were sporadic gunfights in the area since the raid was launched yesterday and a number of militants have been killed," Rasikh said. He said two policemen with the Afghan National Police (ANP) have also been killed and three others were injured in the operation, which is still going on Tuesday in the province with Faizabad as its capital, 315 km northeast of Kabul. "Three more ANP forces sustained injuries in the operation," he added.

#5: Afghan and NATO-led coalition forces have killed 12 armed insurgents in southern Helmand province, a spokesman for provincial administration said on Tuesday.