Free Republic

A sizable blast has occurred in the Emam Bargha Ptima mosque in Kandahar, Afghanistan, The Washington Post reported. The explosion, caused by a suicide bomber, left at least 32 dead, a local health official said. Hafiz Abdul Hai Abbas, the director for provincial health directorate, told The Washington Post that the attack also wounded 45 others. “Dead bodies remain under the ruined mosque,” Abbas said, noting that the death toll is expected to rise. The bombing took place during Friday services, when the mosque would be at its most crowded. No group has yet taken responsibility for the incident. However,...

Officials say an explosion has killed Afghanistan's deputy chief of intelligence. Sayed Ahmad Safi, the spokesman for the governor of Laghman province, says Dr. Abdullah Laghmani died in the blast. Laghmani is the No. 2 at Afghanistan's intelligence service, known as the National Directorate for Security. A Taliban spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, tells The Associated Press that a suicide bomber had targeted Laghmani. The blast occurred during the inauguration of a new mosque in the city of Mehterlam in Laghman — 60 miles (100 kilometers) east of Kabul.

SNIPPET: "...The man in front of me is Zabiullah Mujahid -- one of two spokesmen for the Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar." SNIPPET: "He says they'll use suicide bombers in their attacks. I want to know how they justify tactics that kill so many civilians. I find his answer falls far short of even trying to explain let alone apologize for the carnage they cause. He says it is justified in Islam, it has its roots in history and Islam's Prophet Mohammed." SNIPPET: ""Afghanistan will be the Vietnam for them, concerning their policy, it is the same Bush policy....

KABUL–Taliban attacks on telecom towers have prompted cellphone companies to shut down service across southern Afghanistan, angering a quarter million customers who have no other telephones. Even some Taliban fighters now regret the disruptions and are demanding that service be restored by the companies. The communication blackout follows a campaign by the Taliban, which said the United States and NATO were using the fighters' cellphone signals to track them at night and launch pinpoint attacks. About 10 towers have been attacked since the warning late last month – seven of them seriously – causing almost $2 million in damage, the...

41 Taliban killed in south Afghanistan By AMIR SHAH, Associated Press Writer 15 minutes ago Afghan and international forces killed 41 Taliban militants in a battle in southern Afghanistan, and a suicide car bomb attack on a convoy of U.S. troops left six Afghan civilians dead in Kabul, U.S. and Afghan officials said Thursday. None of the four American troops traveling in the two armored vehicles of the convoy was badly wounded in the Thursday attack, said Lt. Col. David Johnson, a spokesman for U.S. forces. The troops were traveling in one SUV and one truck, he said. Six Afghan...