Bomb Kills German Troops
May 19, 2007
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Military forces reported meanwhile that they had killed scores of Taliban fighters in separate operations overnight, with the bodies of nearly 70 left on one battlefield.
The German soldiers were hit while shopping in a market in the town of Kunduz, the provincial governor told AFP.
"Three of our German friends were killed and two were wounded. One Afghan interpreter was also wounded," Kunduz governor Mohammad Omar said.
Six Afghans were killed and 12 others wounded, six of them critically, he said. All that was left of the bomber was two legs, Omar said.
Worst attack in years for Germans
The attack was the most deadly against the German troops since 2003, when four were killed in a suicide car bombing in Kabul.
NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) media office in the capital Kabul confirmed there had been an explosion but said it had no details.
The German military based in the main northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif said it could not yet release any information. Germany has around 3,000 troops in Afghanistan, operating largely in the north of the country.
Twenty-one German soldiers have lost their lives in Afghanistan since 2002, including the ones killed on Saturday.
Around 60 foreign soldiers involved in the international mission to Afghanistan have died this year, most of them in attacks or combat inside the country.
Coalition claims to have killed dozens
In another attack on Saturday, a district police chief and one of his bodyguards were killed in a remote controlled bomb explosion in the eastern province of Nangarhar, a district chief said.
An Afghan general reported Saturday meanwhile that soldiers from the army and the coalition led by the United States had killed 67 Taliban in an ambush in the eastern province of Paktia, near the border with Pakistan.
"Their bodies were lying on the ground," General Sami-Ul Haq Badar told AFP. The soldiers had been tipped off that there were Taliban in the area, he said.
The coalition announced separately that an estimated "several dozen enemy fighters" were killed in battles around midnight Friday about 60 kilometers (40 miles) from Kabul in Kapisa province.
The death tolls issued by the military are impossible to verify independently.
The Taliban, a movement rooted in an ultraconservative interpretation of Islam, was removed from government nearly six years ago by the coalition.
Thousands of foreign troops arrived soon afterwards to help stabilize the fragile and fractured country but they have been unable to tame the insurgents, who are supported by the Al-Qaeda movement.
Taliban threatened revenge
In the biggest success against the Taliban, the group's famously brutal top military commander Mullah Dadullah was killed a week ago in the southern province of Helmand after being tracked from the border with Pakistan.
The group threatened this week a wave of violence, including suicide bombings, roadside blasts and attacks to avenge his killing.
They said a suicide car bomb aimed at the governor of the southern province of Kandahar on Thursday was part of this campaign. The governor was not in the targeted motorcade but the Information and Culture Minister Abdul Karim Khoram was wounded.
The German soldiers were hit while shopping in a market in the town of Kunduz, the provincial governor told AFP.
"Three of our German friends were killed and two were wounded. One Afghan interpreter was also wounded," Kunduz governor Mohammad Omar said.
Six Afghans were killed and 12 others wounded, six of them critically, he said. All that was left of the bomber was two legs, Omar said.
Worst attack in years for Germans
The attack was the most deadly against the German troops since 2003, when four were killed in a suicide car bombing in Kabul.
NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) media office in the capital Kabul confirmed there had been an explosion but said it had no details.
The German military based in the main northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif said it could not yet release any information. Germany has around 3,000 troops in Afghanistan, operating largely in the north of the country.
Twenty-one German soldiers have lost their lives in Afghanistan since 2002, including the ones killed on Saturday.
Around 60 foreign soldiers involved in the international mission to Afghanistan have died this year, most of them in attacks or combat inside the country.
Coalition claims to have killed dozens
In another attack on Saturday, a district police chief and one of his bodyguards were killed in a remote controlled bomb explosion in the eastern province of Nangarhar, a district chief said.
An Afghan general reported Saturday meanwhile that soldiers from the army and the coalition led by the United States had killed 67 Taliban in an ambush in the eastern province of Paktia, near the border with Pakistan.
"Their bodies were lying on the ground," General Sami-Ul Haq Badar told AFP. The soldiers had been tipped off that there were Taliban in the area, he said.
The coalition announced separately that an estimated "several dozen enemy fighters" were killed in battles around midnight Friday about 60 kilometers (40 miles) from Kabul in Kapisa province.
The death tolls issued by the military are impossible to verify independently.
The Taliban, a movement rooted in an ultraconservative interpretation of Islam, was removed from government nearly six years ago by the coalition.
Thousands of foreign troops arrived soon afterwards to help stabilize the fragile and fractured country but they have been unable to tame the insurgents, who are supported by the Al-Qaeda movement.
Taliban threatened revenge
In the biggest success against the Taliban, the group's famously brutal top military commander Mullah Dadullah was killed a week ago in the southern province of Helmand after being tracked from the border with Pakistan.
The group threatened this week a wave of violence, including suicide bombings, roadside blasts and attacks to avenge his killing.
They said a suicide car bomb aimed at the governor of the southern province of Kandahar on Thursday was part of this campaign. The governor was not in the targeted motorcade but the Information and Culture Minister Abdul Karim Khoram was wounded.
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