Taliban suicide bomber targets NATO in Afghanistan, kills 21
A Taliban suicide bomber on a motorbike rammed an Afghan-NATO patrol in the town of Khost on Wednesday, killing 21 people, including three NATO soldiers, officials said.
Khost, Afghanistan Photo/Golbez via wikimedia commons
The initial AFP report details that another 37 people were wounded in the blast in the eastern town close to the border with Pakistan, where Taliban and other Islamist insurgents fighting US-led troops have strongholds, hospital officials said.
It was the second major attack on NATO in Khost in three weeks. The government blamed the Taliban and a spokesman for the insurgent militia later claimed responsibility for the attack.
Sardar Mohammad Zazai, police chief of Khost province, said the bomber, riding a motorbike, detonated his explosives at the checkpoint manned by local and foreign security forces.
The attack took place near a mosque in a crowded part of the city, which lies near the border with Pakistan. Women and children were among the wounded, local officials said.
A witness said that NATO and Afghan troops were using biometric data to screen residents of the provincial capital when the bomber struck.
“Then suddenly there was an explosion. I saw many killed and wounded including Afghan police and foreign troops. We carried some of them to the hospital,” said Gul Mohammad, whose shop was near the scene of the blast.
