Posted on 08/29/2004 2:48:15 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -
An explosion tore through the office of an American defense contractor in the heart of the Afghan capital Sunday, killing at least four people and seriously injuring several more, officials and residents said. The victims were believed to include Westerners. Hours earlier, a blast at a southeastern Afghanistan school killed nine youngsters and one adult, the U.S. military said.
The child victims were said to be between the ages of 7 and 15, said Paktia Gov. Asadullah Wafa, adding that 15 other people were injured.
Wafa said Saturday night's explosion at a Paktia province school was caused by a bomb planted by "puppets listening to their bosses outside the country." He did not elaborate, but the remark appeared aimed at neighboring Pakistan, which many Afghans accuse of not doing enough to prevent Taliban militants from mounting cross-border attacks.
The U.S. military said the cause of the explosion was unclear.
The Mullah Khel school near Zormat, 80 miles south of Kabul, was an Islamic school that also taught the more modern syllabus set by the Afghan Education Ministry.
It received funding from an international aid group, Wafa said, something that could conceivably have made it a target for Taliban-led militants.
NATO forces patrolling the capital, Kabul, have warned that anti-government militants, including the ousted Taliban, could try to mount spectacular attacks in a bid to disrupt upcoming elections.
Sunday's blast hit the office of Dyncorp Inc., an American firm that provides security for Afghan President Hamid Karzai on behalf of the United States and works for the U.S. government in Iraq, said Nick Downie of the Afghanistan NGO Security Office.
Downie said he and others at the scene pulled several seriously injured people - including apparent Westerners - from the building.
"We're looking at a similar number who died, a mixture of Afghans and internationals," said Downie, a former British soldier who advises relief groups on security. "Some were obviously Dyncorp staff."
He said the exact nationalities of the victims were unclear.
A U.S. Embassy spokeswoman said she had no information on casualties.
The blast occurred in the Shar-e Naw district of central Kabul, an area thick with the offices of international organizations and guesthouses used by their staff.
The building was burning fiercely after the explosion, which blew out windows of surrounding houses.
Reporters saw the badly mutilated body of one man lying in the street before Afghan police and foreign security guards pushed them back at gunpoint.
Residents said a boy living in a neighboring house and a cobbler in a nearby stall were killed, and as many as eight other people were wounded.
"It was a very, very big explosion, and there were a lot of injured," said Ahmad Emal, a young shopkeeper watching from behind the police cordon. "These foreigners should leave the residential areas."
The charred wreckage of a car also was visible in front of the house. Afghans crowded around what appeared to be the engine block lying several hundred yards away, suggesting the explosion might have been caused by a car bomb.
"There was a crater right in front of the office door," Downie said. "There's not much doubt about the target."
Security officials have issued several warnings in recent weeks about possible car bombings and suicide attacks in Kabul, the Afghan capital.
Officials from the international force could not immediately be reached for comment.
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There is a special place in hell reserved for these freaking animals.....killing little kids.
AQ and their minions are working their way down the food chain of softer and softer targets.
Targeting innocent children earns them a very special place in hell... I hope though it is special enough to include those bast@rds being sodomized by cattle prods.
My opinion.
The children in the Afgan school weren't foreigners.
What would happen if you muslims quit blowing up innocent people along with others trying their best to help.
Islam the religion of carnage and body parts!
Hey been meaning to mention something....watch Pakistan this week....Mushie seems to surprise us with a high level capture of AQ before an important event. Mushie is also do to visit the US in the middle of September I think the 12th.
There is a special place there too for those who blame anyone but the killers, and those who apologize for them.
This should make the "tribal" areas of Pakistan fair game. How on earth have we let Osama and Omar stay alive this long? Pakistan should pick a side. One side.
the concepts of 'childhood' and 'innoncence' are lost on these muslims....
all life is targeted....
imo
I ma beginning to think that all who practice the religion of 'peace' are cowards by their very nature. The aggressive ones among them hide their faces and seek to kill innocent women and children while the passive among them cower in a corner somewhere afraid to speak up and denounce the aggressive ones. This will change only when the 90% of them who are not prone to violence, but too cowardly to denounce those who are, feel they have more to fear from our retribution than the aggressors in their midst. As it stands now their greatest threat is fellow followers of the religion of peace.
Mafia tactics work in the Mid East.
We will not be safe until that changes....
That is what Iraq is about, and why the enemy has pulled out all the stops in their vicious attacks worldwide.
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