Kandahar Bomb Was Hidden in Apple Cart

AP | 1/07/04

[kattracks]

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan Jan. 7 — A bomb that tore through a group of curious children in this southern city was hidden in an apple cart, police said Wednesday, as the death toll rose to 15. Meanwhile, a man seized by security forces as he fled the scene of Tuesday's treacherous double blast was refusing to speak to his interrogators.

The carnage on a street used regularly by U.S. military patrols was the worst since an explosion on a bus in neighboring Helmand province in July also killed 15 civilians.

Two years after the fall of the Taliban, the bombing underlined the failure of the Afghan government and its foreign backers to bring security to Afghans weary of nearly a quarter-century of violence.

The bomb was hidden in an apple cart left at the side of the road near a row of parked bicycles, not strapped to one of the bikes as first thought, Kandahar's deputy police chief, Salim Khan, told the Associated Press Wednesday.

The explosion was particularly devastating because it was preceded by a smaller blast, which lured a crowd of onlookers, mostly children playing soccer on a vacant lot nearby.

A battered sneaker lay amid pools of blood, the wrecked bikes and glass from a passing truck Tuesday.

"It was a time-bomb, hidden under the apples," Khan said.

He said 13 children and two adults had died and that 36 people were wounded.

Officials and the U.S. military said they suspected that the Taliban were behind the attack in the city, which was once their stronghold.

But Khan said the man arrested as he tried to run from the scene, identified only as Abdullah, had not said a single word, including his name, under questioning.

It remains unclear whether civilians, U.S. soldiers or guards from a nearby Afghan military barracks were the target. Kandahar Gov. Yusuf Pashtun was also expected to pass that way at about the time of the blast, officials said.

The bomb spoiled celebration of a new constitution ratified Sunday and highlighted the task facing American forces preparing a new offensive in time for summer elections.

Southern and eastern Afghanistan have been riddled by shootings, kidnappings and bomb attacks against civilians as well as soldiers. The Taliban has taken responsibility for many of them.

The violence threatens the timetable for the national elections and has all but halted reconstruction in a large area along the Pakistani border.

There have been several attacks in Kandahar, the focus of a U.S. plan to deploy hundreds of troops and reconstruction workers across the south and east in the run-up to the vote.

On Monday night, gunmen attacked the office of the United Nations refugee agency in Kandahar, throwing a grenade and firing shots, but causing no injuries.

A bomb ripped through a bustling bazaar in the city a month ago, wounding 20 Afghans. Three days earlier, on Dec. 3, two U.S. soldiers were wounded when a suspected Taliban member threw a grenade at their vehicle, parked in a Kandahar square.

[PGalt]

Thanks for the information and all the work that you do.

[FormerACLUmember]

Ah the beauty and beneficence of the religion of peace.

[kattracks]

You're welcome, and thank you.

[mylife]

The explosion was particularly devastating because it was preceded by a smaller blast, which lured a crowd of onlookers, mostly children playing soccer on a vacant lot nearby.

A favorite terror tactic. Terrorist b@st@rds

[Falcon4.0]

"a man seized by security forces...was refusing to speak to his interrogators."

bet ya I could get him to talk. Start taking his toes off one by one with a cuting tourch.

[17th Miss Regt]

Two years after the fall of the Taliban, the bombing underlined the failure of the Afghan government and its foreign backers to bring security to Afghans weary of nearly a quarter-century of violence.

Let's see. That would be starting in 1978. The communists took power in a coup and installed a brutal regime. When that regime was shaky, the Soviets came in and brutalized the country for nine years. Then the Taliban took over for a while. This brings us to two years ago.

The article neatly fails to mention this. They want to give the impression that the long period of violence is our fault. The frightening thing is that they probably believe it.

[mrsmith]

"Two years after the fall of the Taliban, the bombing underlined the failure of Taliban remnants to mount a resistance against the new Afghan government. The extent of their military ability being reduced now to blowing up their own children."

[Tunehead54]

Two years after the fall of the Taliban, the bombing underlined the failure of the Afghan government and its foreign backers to bring security to Afghans weary of nearly a quarter-century of violence.

---

The Afghanis and Iraqis will only get their "security" when they start fighting for it and turning in the taliban they know to be in their midst. Maybe seeing their neighbors and children of their neighbors killed will wake them to this fact. Me - not holding my breath. :-(

[sr4402]

A bomb that tore through a group of curious children in this southern city was hidden in an apple cart

This proves my point that Terrorists are Child Murders and deserve NO respect in our world. The Palestinian Terrorists do it, is Iraqi terrorist also. It should become a definition of a Terrorist that they kill Mothers and Children and that they should be wiped off the face of this earth.

Sorry, I turn off the T.V. in a heartbeat when our press warms up to Terrorists.