http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/12/AR2011021200 523.html
Taliban fighters kill at least 19 in attack on Kandahar police headquarters By Josh Boak Washington Post Foreign Service Saturday, February 12, 2011; 1:37 PM KABUL - Taliban fighters deploying car bombs and rocket-propelled grenades killed at least 17 members of the Afghan security forces and two civilians in the southern city of Kandahar on Saturday, the U.S.-led coalition said in a statement. The Taliban asserted responsibility for the attack, which also wounded at least 49 other people, including nine schoolchildren. According to accounts from NATO and Afghan officials, four Taliban fighters started firing rockets from a nearby wedding hall just before noon and then detonated a car bomb outside police headquarters. Three of the rockets struck the headquarters, while the fourth hit a school, officials said. At a news conference after the hours-long battle ended, Maj. Gen. Salim Ehsas, the police commander in Kandahar, described the attack as a part of an apparent plan to set off six car bombs throughout the city. Only two other bombs exploded, while police found and defused the rest, he said. In a statement posted on the Taliban Web site, insurgency spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi said the fighters wore suicide vests packed with explosives and had fired AK-47 assault rifles back at the Afghan security forces. Afghan forces killed three of the fighters before they could trigger their vests, Kandahar Gov. Toryalai Wesa said at the news conference, adding that they captured the fourth man and neutralized his explosives. NATO supported the counterattack from the air with helicopters, Ehsas said. The governor dismissed questions about whether Afghan forces can protect a city of several hundred thousand people that is considered to be the home of the Taliban movement. "Such attacks happen even in very advanced countries, which have access to advanced technology for thwarting terrorist attacks," Wesa said. "I don't think our security forces are incompetent. On the contrary, I think that they are very competent and they do their job the best way they can." The governor said he has asked the national government to station more troops and police in Kandahar. Police in the city have also been ordered to stop and check vehicles they suspect might have car bombs. There have been four other Taliban suicide bombings in Kandahar province since the start of the year. Among those killed in the earlier attacks were a retired U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer and, separately, the province's deputy governor. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [email protected]. -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [email protected] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [email protected] Subscribe: [email protected] Unsubscribe: [email protected] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtmlYahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
