KABUL (AFP) – Afghanistan asked the United Nations Tuesday to remove more Taliban leaders from its sanctions terror list as part of efforts to end a deadly insurgency.
The request by the troubled nation’s powerful National Security Council follows the removal of 10 Taliban and 35 Al-Qaeda members from the blacklist by the world body earlier this month.
“Afghanistan’s National Security Council, after investigations and assessments, has recently sent a list comprised of 47 people… to the United Nations to be removed from the blacklist,” a statement said. President
President Hamid Karzai has offered an olive branch to the Taliban and other insurgents in return for reconciliation.
“The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, by sending the list, took another step towards implementing the decisions of the Peace Jirga,” the statement said. Individuals on the list are subject to asset freezes, a travel ban and an arms embargo. http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online//Politics/11-Aug-2010/Afghanistan-wants-more-Taliban-off-UN-blacklist
2. Fatal Attack on Guesthouse in Afghan Capital: The NY Times, Aug 11
KABUL— Two suicide bombers wearing explosive vests and carrying firearms and grenades attacked a guesthouse frequented by foreigners in central Kabul, the police said, killing two Afghans.
The attackers apparently failed to break through the fortified gate and instead detonated their vests in the street after shooting and killing the two Afghan guards, witnesses said.
A police criminal investigation officer at the scene, Abdul Ghafar Sahab Zada, said the guards were employees of Hart Security, a British private security company that operated the guesthouse. Efforts to reach a spokesman for Hart Security were unsuccessful.
Guesthouses in Kabul, some of them run by security companies, have periodically been targets for Taliban attackers. There are scores of such residences for the many international employees and aid workers here; most have light security.
The attack took place a short distance away from Flower Street, an area with restaurants and guesthouses popular with foreigners in a neighborhood called Taimani.
A Taliban spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, offered a description of a far more devastating attack. He said that there were 58 foreigners in the guesthouse that 4 Taliban fighters entered after one detonated his suicide vest and that 23 people were killed.
Last October, Taliban attackers managed to enter a United Nations guesthouse, killing eight people, including six foreign staff members. On Feb. 26 this year, simultaneous attacks on two guesthouses killed 16 people, 9 of them Indian citizens, as well as a Frenchman and an Italian. www.nytimes.com/2010/08/11/world/asia/11kabul.html?ref=asia&pagewanted=print
3. Nine cops perish, 3 ANA soldiers injured in blasts: The Frontier Post, Aug 11
KHOST (AIP): A bomb blast left three soldiers of Afghan National Army and a policeman wounded on Tuesday in Khost City, capital of Khost province, police said. The bomb went off near an ANA vehicle in Sargardan Square of Khost City, injuring three soldier and a cop, Abdul Hakim Ishaqzai, provincial police chief, told AIP.
He said the injured were evacuated to hospital where one of the injured was stated to be in critical condition.
Though the police chief said the explosion was caused by the detonation of magnetic bomb attached to shipment container being used as a check post, but local shopkeepers say that it appeared it was a hand grenade attack. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the attack and said four Afghan soldiers were killed in the explosion.
Meanwhile, a roadside bomb killed three border police and wounded another on Tuesday in Gulran district of western Herat province, an officer said. Three border police were killed and one wounded in the blast that happened in Chah Takhta area of Gulran district. Qari Yousaf Ahmadi, spokesman of Taliban, claimed responsibility for the attack and said that the explosion carried out by Taliban killed five border police and wounded three more.
Afghan officials say six police were killed and one wounded during separate attacks by Taliban in Helmand province, Kamalludin, security chief of Helmand province. A vehicle transporting food goods to district centre of Khanisheen struck a mine 5 km to north of the district centre, said Kamal. He said five police travelling in the vehicle were killed and the vehicle was destroyed.
In Musa Qala district, a clash took place between Taliban and police in the district headquarters and as a result a police was killed, he added. http://thefrontierpost.com/News.aspx?ncat=an&nid=235
4. U.N. Reports Rising Afghan Casualties: The NY Times, Aug 11
KABUL— The number of civilian casualties in Afghanistan continued to climb in the first half of 2010, with an increasing number of children in the toll and a spike in the recently troubled northeast. More than ever, the deaths were caused by insurgents, the United Nations said in a report released Tuesday.
In its mid-year report, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, known as Unama, said the number of civilians wounded and killed increased by nearly a third in the first six months of the year, as coalition forces raised the level of military action against insurgents.
In that period, 1,271 civilians were killed and 1,997 were wounded, the report said, with more than three-quarters attributable to what it called “antigovernment elements.”
Death and injury to children were up 55 percent, with 176 killed and 389 wounded, the report said, noting that improvised bombs were often placed in areas frequented by the young, like parks and markets.
The single biggest cause of the increase in civilian casualties was insurgent bombings, including both suicide bombings and homemade bombs, which the military calls improvised explosive devices. Together they caused 557 deaths.
www.nytimes.com/2010/08/11/world/asia/11afghan.html?_r=1&ref=world&pagewanted=print
