Afghanistan - Suicide bomber hits U.S. embassy convoy in Kabul

Reuters (excerpt) ^ | March 19, 2007

[HAL9000]

KABUL, March 19 (Reuters) - A U.S. embassy convoy was hit by a suicide car bomber in the Afghan capital of Kabul on Monday, resulting in the deaths of some people, police said.

It was not immediately known if the dead included American nationals, but an embassy spokesman said U.S. Ambassador Ronald Neumann was not in the convoy.

Several embassy officials and pedestrians were wounded, spokesman Joe Mellocc said, adding that the injuries of some officials were "serious".

~ snip

[leadpenny]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070319/ap_on_re_as/afghan_violence

Bomb hits U.S. Embassy convoy in Kabul By FISNIK ABRASHI, Associated Press Writer
15 minutes ago



KABUL, Afghanistan - A car bomb exploded near a three-vehicle U.S. Embassy convoy on a busy road in Kabul on Monday, wounding several people, one seriously, officials said.

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The blast, witnessed by an Associated Press reporter, badly damaged the front of one black SUV that was shunted to the other side of the road. First aid was administered to at least two people at the scene.

The other two vehicles in convoy also were damaged, close to the burning wreckage of the car where the bomb was apparently planted.

Joe Mellott, a spokesman for the U.S. Embassy, said several people in the convoy were wounded, one seriously. He did not identify them or say whether they were Americans. He said the U.S. ambassador, Ronald Neumann, was not in the convoy.

An initial alert over an embassy warning system said, "a U.S. Embassy convoy was struck by a suicide bomber in the vicinity of the U.S. Embassy," according to an AP reporter who heard the alert over the phone.

Mellott said the warning was initial incoming information, and it wasn't immediately clear if it was a suicide bomber who carried out the attack.

The bombing took place about 2 miles from the embassy on a road often targeted in bombings and rocket attacks. The road leads out of Kabul and to the U.S. base at Bagram.

The AP reporter who witnessed the attack happened to be traveling in a vehicle about 50 to 70 yards behind the convoy when the bomb went off.

U.S. Embassy security teams initially prevented Afghan police, NATO soldiers and journalists from getting close to the vehicles.

Late last month, a suicide bomber killed 23 people outside the U.S. base at Bagram during a visit by U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney. In September, a suicide bombing near the U.S. Embassy killed 16 people, including two U.S. soldiers.

Afghanistan has seen an upsurge in Iraq-style violence over the past year as militant supporters of the former Taliban regime have stepped up attacks and increasingly embraced new deadly tactics such as suicide and roadside bombings.

[Jedi Master Pikachu]

Asia pinglist

This is to reduce the amount of pictures posted. Does posting a lot of pictures make FR more expensive to run?

[Calpernia]

ping

[Lurker]

Does posting a lot of pictures make FR more expensive to run?

Not really, but it does seriously slow things down a bit for users on dial up or slow DSL connections.

L

[Cindy]

Thanks for the ping Calpernia.

---

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1793738/posts?page=1042#1042

[Jedi Master Pikachu]

Oh....

Appreciated. Then can personally be more liberal (as opposed to spartan--not a reference to political views) in posting pictures, then. Still intend to not post as much--at least one freeper got rather angry about the pinglist sign(s).

[Truth29]

"The AP reporter who witnessed the attack happened to be traveling in a vehicle about 50 to 70 yards behind the convoy when the bomb went off."

Now why would my first thought be that the reporter had been tipped off about the pending attack...?

[leadpenny]

Maybe because you've been brainwashed by one or more loud mouths on talk radio? I don't know?

[leadpenny]

I know that sounded harsh but I just hate the term "Main Stream Media" or anything that resembles it.

[Truth29]

Or maybe because of incidents of the MSM cooperating with the enemy and slanting the reporting to show the worst possible light on Western efforts.

[Lurker]

The problem with large pictures is that they can take a very long time to load for some people who have slower internet connections.

If you're going to post them, smaller pictures are generally better than larger ones.

Have fun.

L

[Truth29]

Now that's funny, since I hadn't said anything about the MSM in my first post to you.

[leadpenny]

Or maybe not. In that case it would imply a mole mixed in with the convoy. I'd hope the US security detail would have measures to prevent even this AP reporter from knowing in advance the actual route to be taken from the airport to the embassy.

[leadpenny]

I knew where you going.

[Justa]

Yes, quite odd if one presumes the reporter is a Westerner. 70 yards would put the reporter in another convoy or on his own and they don't have the assets to assemble their own. In Iraq there's a reason why some reporters are fresh on the scene and are never attacked by insurgents, it's because they are the insurgents. It's common knowledge actually. They then freelance their video to the MSM and are even defended by some asshats on FR.

[Cindy]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,259523,00.html
AP

"U.S. Embassy Convoy Bombed in Afghanistan"
Monday, March 19, 2007

AP


KABUL, Afghanistan —

ARTICLE SNIPPET: "A French officer at the site of the blast, who did not want to be identified since he was not authorized to speak to the media, said the explosion was probably caused by a remote-controlled device placed in a vehicle at the roadside."

[LibLieSlayer]

dims are not the only enemies we have that post on FR.

LLS