Uncle Sam
02-11-2004, 10:17 AM
http://www.*******.co.uk/newsPackageArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=456330§ion=news
Man blows self up after killing Afghan official
Wed 11 February, 2004 13:00
By Kamal Sadaat
KHOST, Afghanistan (*******) - A man has blown himself up after shooting dead an intelligence official in Afghanistan's southeastern town of Khost, witnesses say.
The attacker was not identified but authorities said he was a member of the ousted Taliban militia, which has stepped up its insurgency in recent months and threatened a wave of suicide attacks in cities.
Khost town's deputy intelligence chief, Colonel Mohammad Isa, was on his way to his office when the assailant opened fire on his car and killed him in a bazaar, witnesses said.
"The man started to run away, but blew himself up amid shouting when the soldiers tried to arrest him," said Pacha Gul, a shopkeeper near the scene.
Two Taliban officials said separately that members of the ousted militia were behind the attack on Isa, but gave different accounts of how the attacker died.
Taliban spokesman Hamid Agha said Afghan police killed the assailant, but Abdul Latif Hakimi, another Taliban official, said the man blew himself up after killing Isa.
"The man was a Talib and an Afghan," Hakimi said.
The Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press agency said Isa had escaped an assassination attempt last year, and a junior intelligence official was killed in the same town two months ago.
Khost is close to the border with Pakistan and the area has been racked by instability since U.S.-led forces drove the Taliban from power in November 2001 for harbouring Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda network.
U.S. forces stationed near the border come under frequent, though often ineffectual, attack from Islamic militants.
Wednesday's shooting and suicide follow two suicide attacks on international peacekeepers in Kabul on consecutive days last month. A Canadian and a British soldier were killed.
Five Afghan security officials died in another suicide blast in the capital in December. The Taliban have claimed responsibility for all three attacks.
More than 550 people have been killed in violence across Afghanistan since early August, after the Taliban announced it had created a new command structure to better coordinate its jihad, or holy war, on foreign forces in the country.
As well as 10,600 U.S.-led troops hunting al Qaeda and Taliban militants, there are more than 6,000 international peacekeepers mainly patrolling the capital.
The lack of security across much of the country has raised concern about efforts to organise the country's first democratic elections in June.
Man blows self up after killing Afghan official
Wed 11 February, 2004 13:00
By Kamal Sadaat
KHOST, Afghanistan (*******) - A man has blown himself up after shooting dead an intelligence official in Afghanistan's southeastern town of Khost, witnesses say.
The attacker was not identified but authorities said he was a member of the ousted Taliban militia, which has stepped up its insurgency in recent months and threatened a wave of suicide attacks in cities.
Khost town's deputy intelligence chief, Colonel Mohammad Isa, was on his way to his office when the assailant opened fire on his car and killed him in a bazaar, witnesses said.
"The man started to run away, but blew himself up amid shouting when the soldiers tried to arrest him," said Pacha Gul, a shopkeeper near the scene.
Two Taliban officials said separately that members of the ousted militia were behind the attack on Isa, but gave different accounts of how the attacker died.
Taliban spokesman Hamid Agha said Afghan police killed the assailant, but Abdul Latif Hakimi, another Taliban official, said the man blew himself up after killing Isa.
"The man was a Talib and an Afghan," Hakimi said.
The Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press agency said Isa had escaped an assassination attempt last year, and a junior intelligence official was killed in the same town two months ago.
Khost is close to the border with Pakistan and the area has been racked by instability since U.S.-led forces drove the Taliban from power in November 2001 for harbouring Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda network.
U.S. forces stationed near the border come under frequent, though often ineffectual, attack from Islamic militants.
Wednesday's shooting and suicide follow two suicide attacks on international peacekeepers in Kabul on consecutive days last month. A Canadian and a British soldier were killed.
Five Afghan security officials died in another suicide blast in the capital in December. The Taliban have claimed responsibility for all three attacks.
More than 550 people have been killed in violence across Afghanistan since early August, after the Taliban announced it had created a new command structure to better coordinate its jihad, or holy war, on foreign forces in the country.
As well as 10,600 U.S.-led troops hunting al Qaeda and Taliban militants, there are more than 6,000 international peacekeepers mainly patrolling the capital.
The lack of security across much of the country has raised concern about efforts to organise the country's first democratic elections in June.