Twelve wounded after suicide bomber hits Iraq police station (Reuters)

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – At least 12 people were wounded when a suicide bomber in a wheelchair blew himself up at a police station in the northern outskirts of Iraq's capital on Sunday, a spokesman for the Baghdad operations command said.

Major General Qassim al-Moussawi said the bomber set off his explosives vest in the police chief's office at the station in Tarmiya, 25 km (15 miles) north of Baghdad.

"This is the initial toll and we expect it to rise," Moussawi told Reuters.

He said the 12 wounded included nine policemen and three civilians.

An Interior Ministry source put the toll at two killed and 17 wounded, including nine policemen.

Attacks against Iraqi security forces have been increasing as the country's army and police prepare to take total responsibility for security ahead of a full withdrawal of U.S. troops by December, more than eight years after the invasion.

Insurgents launched at least eight attacks on police in Baghdad and northern Mosul on Wednesday, using a combination of guns and explosives.

Bombings and killings remain a daily occurrence in Iraq as security forces fight a stubborn insurgency, although overall violence has dropped since the height of sectarian fighting in 2006-7.

(Reporting by Muhanad Mohammed; Writing by Serena Chaudhry; Editing by Louise Ireland)

Yahoo! News

Iraq: Bomber attacks police station

9 Iraqi police were among the woundedThe attack took place in Tarmiya district in northern Baghdad

Baghdad (CNN) -- A suicide bomber wearing an explosives-laden belt targeted a police station Sunday in northern Baghdad, killing two civilians, an Iraqi official at the police station said.

Another 17 people were wounded, nine of them police, the official said, speaking to CNN on condition of anonymity.

The attack took place in Tarmiya district.

Journalists Fattah Mahmood Fattah & Muhaimen Najm contributed to this report.

CNN

Afghan suicide truck bomber kills 35

At least one doctor was among the 35 killed and 60 wounded by the suicide truck bomber Saturday at an Afghan hospital.NEW: A French soldier was killed in Kapisa provinceAlong with the 35 dead, 25 were wounded, an official saidISAF, U.S. and Karzai condemned the latest attacks

Kabul, Afghanistan(CNN) -- A suicide bomb attack targeting a hospital in eastern Afghanistan killed at least 35 people and wounded more than two dozen, a brazen strike that rocked a maternity ward and claimed the lives of numerous women and children.

The incident occurred Saturday in the Azra district of Logar province when a truck packed with explosives detonated, according to Sifatiullah Haqmal, a member of the provincial council.

The head of the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan said "much of the damage was in the maternity ward of the hospital, and many of those killed and injured were women and children."

The mission noted that assaults on hospitals "are strictly prohibited under international humanitarian law" and that "medical workers, clinics and hospitals must be respected and protected in all circumstances."

Dr. Khaliq Yar, head of the provincial projects for a national medical program, described the hospital as a four-ward comprehensive health center, including a section for mothers and children and ten beds for maternity patients.

The Logar assault follows a similar strike last month when a suicide bombing tore through a military hospital in Kabul, killing six people and injuring others.

"This is a despicable attack against civilians who were seeking medical care, as well as visiting family members and health workers," Staffan de Mistura, the special representative of the secretary-general for Afghanistan, said in a statement on Saturday.

"The terrorists demonstrated a disregard for human life when they targeted Afghans who were patients in a hospital and their visitors and relatives, and hospital personnel," the U.S. Embassy in Kabul said in a statement.

Casualty reports fluctuated in the hours after the attack. Logar governor's spokesman Den Mohammad Darwish told CNN that along with the 35 deaths, 25 others were wounded.

The Logar strike is the second attack in as many days in Afghanistan that targeted civilians, just days after President Barack Obama outlined a plan to withdraw 30,000 troops from the country by September 2012.

Along with the Logar strike, a bomb attack in the northern province of Kunduz on Friday killed at least 10 people, actions the embassy called "devastating."

The Afghan President Hamid Karzai and NATO's International Security Assistance Force also issued statements condemning both incidents, and said the violence underscores warnings from military commanders that insurgents are intent on pursuing large-scale strikes.

"The insurgents have a complete disregard for the innocent people of Afghanistan who are trying to live in peace," ISAF spokesman Rear Adm. Vic Beck said.

The Kunduz incident on Friday occurred in the province's Khan Abad district square, said Mohibullah Saidi, a spokesman for the provincial governor.

Along with the 10 deaths, 24 people were wounded in the attack, the Ministry of Interior said. The bomb was placed in a bicycle and was detonated by remote control, Saidi said.

ISAF also reported the deaths of two service members on Saturday in separate insurgent attacks in eastern Afghanistan, and the alliance confirmed that one of them was a French service member. The nationality of the other soldier was not immediately available.

There have been 48 international troop deaths in June and 264 this year, according to a CNN count of casualties.

The French government said its soldier was wounded by insurgent fire in a fight during a reconnaissance mission in Kapisa province and died later at a hospital. He is the 63rd French soldier to die in the Afghan war.

France announced Thursday that it would also begin to reduce troop numbers, saying it "will initiate a progressive withdrawal of troops in Afghanistan, and will follow a timetable comparable to the withdrawal of the American troops."

French President Nicolas Sarkozy's office said the withdrawal will be done in consultation with NATO allies and the Afghan government.

All French soldiers could be out of Afghanistan by 2013, French Defense Minister Gerard Longuet told France Info radio Thursday.

CNN's Matiullah Mati and Joe Sterling contributed to this report

CNN

35 dead as suicide bomber targets Afghan hospital

At least one doctor was among the 35 killed and 60 wounded by the suicide truck bomber Saturday at an Afghan hospital.NEW: ISAF, U.S. and Karzai condemned the latest attacksAt least 35 died and 60 more were wounded, an official saidA doctor is among those killed in bombing at hospital, officials saySuicide bomber targets hospital in eastern Afghanistan, officials say

Kabul, Afghanistan(CNN) -- A suicide bomb attack Saturday in eastern Afghanistan has killed at least 35 people and wounded another 60, Logar province governor spokesman Den Mohammad Darwish said.

The bomber used a truck packed with explosives to target a hospital in the Azra district of Logar province, said Sifatiullah Haqmal, a member of the provincial council.

At least one doctor was killed in the blast, which occurred at the front entrance of the Maternity Hospital of Akbarkhil Azra, said Dr. Khaliq Yar, head of the provincial projects for the Medicine Refresher Course for Afghanistan.

"The terrorists demonstrated a disregard for human life when they targeted Afghans who were patients in a hospital and their visitors and relatives, and hospital personnel," the U.S. Embassy in Kabul said in a statement.

It's the second attack in as many days in Afghanistan that targeted civilians, just days after President Barack Obama outlined a plan to withdraw 30,000 troops from the country by September 2012.

Along with the Logar strike, a bomb attack in the northern province of Kunduz on Friday killed at least 10 people, attacks the embassy called "devastating."

The Afghan President Hamid Karzai and NATO's International Security Assistance Force also issued statements condemning both incidents.

"The insurgents have a complete disregard for the innocent people of Afghanistan who are trying to live in peace," ISAF spokesman Rear Adm. Vic Beck said.

The Kunduz incident on Friday occurred in the province's Khan Abad district square, said Mohibullah Saidi, a spokesman for the provincial governor.

Along with the 10 deaths, 24 people were wounded in the attack, the Ministry of Interior said. The bomb was placed in a bicycle and was detonated by remote control, Saidi said.

CNN

Suicide bomber hits NATO convoy

NEW: The Taliban says it targeted the German troops in a suicide car bombing NEW: Officials: Those confirmed killed or wounded are civiliansNEW: It is not clear if there are NATO casualties in the latest attack The attack comes after the Afghan president said the U.S. is in peace talks with the Taliban

Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) -- The Taliban claimed responsibility for a suicide car bomb attack Sunday that targeted a NATO convoy in northern Afghanistan's Kunduz province, killing at least three people and wounding 11, a spokesman for the provincial governor's office said.

The attack came a day after Afghan President Hamid Karzai said the United States was involved in peace talks with the Taliban. U.S. officials have downplayed Karzai's statements, saying there had been contact but no discussions substantial enough to be considered negotiations.

News of the talks has done little to stem attacks in Afghanistan.

On Sunday, a suicide bomber detonated a car full of explosives just as a convoy driven by German soldiers passed, said the governor's spokesman, Mahbobellah Saidi.

The convoy was attacked on the road leading to the airport in Kunduz City, the provincial capital, the Ministry of Interior said in a written statement.

All those killed and wounded were civilians, according to Saidi and the ministry statement.

It was not immediately clear whether there were NATO casualties, though one of the convoy vehicles was damaged, Saidi said.

But the Taliban claimed to have killed many soldiers in the attack.

"The troops were targeted accurately, according to the plan, and many of the soldier have been killed as a result of the attack," Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mojahed told CNN by telephone from an unknown location.

CNN can not independently verify the Taliban claim nor Saidi's account.

On Saturday, four NATO service members were killed in combat-related incidents in eastern and southern Afghanistan, and another four were killed in a vehicle accident in southern Afghanistan, NATO said.

ISAF has not released the names of those killed, saying its policy is to defer casualty identification procedures to national authorities.

CNN

Afghan official: Suicide bomber kills 3 (AP)

MAIDAN SHAR, Afghanistan – An Afghan official says a suicide bomber has killed three people in an attack against an administrative building in restive eastern Paktia province.

District chief Allah Gul Ahmadzai says the bombing occurred late Wednesday afternoon in the Sayed Karam district of Paktia, which borders with Pakistan. He says the bomber was wearing an explosives vest and blew himself up just 2 yards (meters) from the front gate of the district headquarters. The bomb killed three civilians, including a 13-year-old boy, and blew out windows in the compound. There was no other damage.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

MAIDAN SHAR, Afghanistan (AP) — A suicide bomber killed eight people and wounded four in a strike Wednesday on a governor's office in the northeast, while a mortar targeted a building where NATO and Afghan officials were inaugurating the country's largest police training facility in central Afghanistan.

The two attacks, which occurred at about the same time, were a stark reminder that insurgents can strike anywhere in this volatile country.

Provincial spokesman Halim Ayar said the bomber blew himself up about 220 yards (200 meters) from the office of Governor Azizul Rahman Tawab in the northeast Kapisa province. He said four of the dead were police officers and four were civilians. All the wounded were civilians, he added.

The Interior Ministry said in a statement that seven people were killed, including two police officers and five civilians. It added that seven others were wounded, including a police officer. The discrepancy in the casualty numbers, which is common in the aftermath of such attacks, could not immediately be resolved.

"The leadership of Ministry of Interior of Afghanistan condemns this inhumane and cowardly suicide attack. Such attacks will never weaken the determination of the Afghan National Police," read the ministry statement.

Meanwhile, in central Wardak province, a mortar landed next to a large building where Afghanistan's second vice president, Mohammed Karim Khalili and Interior Minister Bismullah Khan Mohammadi, along with NATO officials, celebrated the opening of the flagship center of a multibillion dollar NATO program to train Afghan national security forces ahead of a planned withdrawal of U.S.-led coalition forces at the end of 2014.

The deafening blast shook the building and more than 500 police recruits ducked for cover. Gunshots rang out after the attack. Bodyguards rushed Afghan and NATO officials into a hardened shelter before evacuating them on helicopters.

The area has seen increasing attacks by insurgents as the Taliban press a spring campaign against Afghan and NATO forces.

It was unclear if Khalili, who was born in Wardak, was the intended target of the attack, but the mortar seemed to have been aimed at the building where he had just finished delivering an address.

The $106 million facility currently houses 725 recruits but will expand to 3,000, making it the largest facility of its kind in the country. A mostly U.S. funded program has been spending about $10 billion a year in 2010 and 2011 alone to train, equip and build infrastructure for a range of Afghan forces, including police, soldiers and an air force. That program calls for increasing the number of Afghan police to 134,000 by October from the 81,509 of two years ago.

U.S. Maj. Gen. James Mallory told The Associated Press that NATO would be able to properly train and support an estimated 157,000 police officers before the coalition's planned withdrawal in 2014.

However, he acknowledged there would be long-term legacy costs that the international community would need to bear for the country as it struggles economically, especially as 86 percent of incoming recruits cannot read or write.

"We're dealing with a lost generation," Mallory said. He spoke just before the mortar attack.

Also Wednesday, in the southern province of Kandahar, the governor's office said NATO and Afghan troops killed 14 armed insurgents. Nine were killed after crossing the Pakistan border, while five were killed while allegedly trying to plant roadside bombs, the governor's office said.

A rocket attack in Kandahar city wounded four civilians in the Aymo Mina district, provincial police chief Gen. Abdul Raziq said.

___

Associated Press writer Mirwais Khan in Kandahar, Afghanistan contributed to this report.

___

Jon Gambrell can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/jongambrellAP.

Yahoo! News

Suicide bomber kills at least 6 in Kabul hospital (Reuters)

KABUL (Reuters) – A suicide bomber killed at least six people and wounded 23 more at a military hospital in a heavily-guarded area of the Afghan capital Kabul on Saturday, the Defense Ministry said in a statement.

The bomber struck at 12:30 p.m. local time (5 a.m. EDT) in the cafeteria of the hospital where medical students were eating lunch, said Mohammad Zahir, head of the police crime investigation unit. He added the dead were students.

The hospital is located in a high-security area near the U.S. embassy and where several other foreign embassies and international organizations operate.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in an emailed statement that the group had sent two suicide bombers into the hospital and killed many. The Taliban launched a long-awaited "spring offensive" last month.

Despite escalating violence in the 10th year of an increasingly unpopular war in Afghanistan, Kabul is relatively peaceful. In early April, a suicide bomber attacked an Afghan army bus on the outskirts of the capital, wounding 10 soldiers and civilians.

The Taliban, which often inflates the number of casualties it inflicts, vowed last month to carry out attacks, including suicide bombings, on foreign and Afghan troops and government officials.

Despite the presence of up to 150,000 foreign troops, violence across Afghanistan is at its worst since the 2001 overthrow of the Taliban government by U.S.-backed Afghan forces, and last year saw record casualties on both sides.

(Writing by Amie Ferris-Rotman; Editing by Alex Richardson)

Yahoo! News

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Suicide bomber kills 20 police in Iraq

BAGHDAD (AP) — A suicide car bomber rammed his explosive-packed vehicle into a barrier outside a police building in a central Iraq city Thursday morning, killing 20 police officers and wounding dozens more, a local councilman said.

var data = blocks.columnist;if (data != undefined){document.getElementById('columnistmug').innerHTML=data;} AP

Iraqi security forces inspect the scene of a car bomb attack in Hillah, about 60 miles south of Baghdad on Thursday.

AP

Iraqi security forces inspect the scene of a car bomb attack in Hillah, about 60 miles south of Baghdad on Thursday.

The blast ? in the mostly Shiite city of Hillah ? was the second significant attack in Iraq since the death of Osama bin Laden on Monday at the hands of a U.S. commando team in Pakistan. Iraqis have been on edge, waiting for al-Qaida's branch in Iraq to strike back as a way to demonstrate it is still dangerous.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the bombing, but it resembled many past attacks by al-Qaida in Iraq targeted at security forces.

"The attack bears the hallmark of al-Qaida which is renewing its efforts to destabilize the country," said Hamid al-Milli, a member of the region's provincial council.

Iraqi officials have vowed to increase security in the aftermath of bin Laden's killing. Already, security is vastly improved since the days when bin Laden's associates terrorized the country, but Thursday's bombing seemed to underscore how difficult it is to wipe out all traces of the insurgency.

Iraq also faces the withdrawal of the remaining American forces ? about 46,000 troops ? from Iraq by the end of this year, a prospect that many Iraqis fear will leave their country more vulnerable to violence.

A police official said the bomber hit when officers were assembling in a square in front of the police building for a shift change in Hillah, about 60 miles (95 kilometers) south of the capital Baghdad.

Al-Milli said 20 policemen were killed and 40 more wounded in the bombing. He said the car was believed to have been loaded with about 330 pounds (150 kilograms) of explosives. The attacker sped toward the police building and the guards did not have a chance to shoot at him, he said.

A witness at the scene said the blast knocked down the concrete ceiling covering a parking lot where many police cars were parked.

The fact that the bomber was able to wipe out so many policemen in one blast immediately raised questions about security at the building.

"The incident is definitely a security breach and all the security services in the province, especially the police command, are held responsible for that," said Mansour al-Mani'i, a member of the Hillah council.

AP television footage showed ambulances and police vehicles with blaring sirens racing to and from the blast sight. A bulldozer moved debris from the scene, where twisted metal, spots of blood and piles of bricks and rubble lay. Emergency teams lifted bricks and iron bars from the debris, while shards of glass littered the site.

The head of the Babil Provincial Council, Kadim Tuman, told reporters on the scene of the blast that he was holding both officials at the building and at the central government accountable.

"This building was not well fortified and the changing of policemen's shifts was exposed to the enemy," he said. The central government had also failed to provide extra police and explosive detection equipment, he said.

The police building that was targeted is located in an important commercial area in Hillah. But many people were not yet at work, meaning the casualties were lower than they could have been.

Hillah is a predominantly Shiite city but its proximity to the Triangle of Death ? a mainly Sunni area that at one time was one of the most dangerous in the country ? has made it a frequent target of Sunni extremists. In 2005, a suicide car bombing targeted at security recruits killed 125 people in Hillah ? one of the worst such attacks of the war.

Maj. Gen. Mahdi Hadi al-Fikkaiki, head of the interior ministry's intelligence department, said they don't have the full details of the latest Hillah bombing as yet. He defended the government's ability to protect Iraq, but acknowledged that there was no way to make the country 100 percent safe.

"Security gaps can be found in most countries in the world," he said.

On Tuesday, a car bomb tore through a cafe in Baghdad packed with young men watching a football match on TV, killing at least 16 people.

Most of the dead and wounded in the cafe were young people. The blast occurred in a Shiite enclave in the former insurgent stronghold of Dora, an area in southwestern Baghdad that saw some of the fiercest fighting of the Iraq conflict.

Nobody has claimed responsibility for that attack either, but Sunni insurgents have often targeted Shiites, who they don't consider to be true Muslims, as a way to incite sectarian violence.

??

Associated Press writer Sameer N. Yacoub in Amman, Jordan contributed to this report.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

For more information about reprints & permissions, visit our FAQ's. To report corrections and clarifications, contact Standards Editor Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and state for verification. To view our corrections, go to corrections.usatoday.com.We've updated the Conversation Guidelines. Changes include a brief review of the moderation process and an explanation on how to use the "Report Abuse" button. Read more.

USATODAY.com

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Taliban use child bomber at start of offensive

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — On the first day of its promised spring offensive, the Taliban used a 12-year-old boy as a suicide bomber in an attack Sunday that killed four civilians, President Hamid Karzai said, calling the child's recruitment inhumane and un-Islamic.

It was one of several attacks across the country that killed seven people, government officials said.

The insurgent movement announced in a statement Saturday that it would step up operations against military bases, convoys and Afghan officials, including members of the peace council working to reconcile with top insurgent leaders. The offensive begins each year after a winter lull in fighting.

"The use of children and youths who don't know the difference between right and wrong in terrorist attacks is inhumane and against all Islamic principles," the president said.

The suicide bomber detonated a vest packed with explosives inside a bazaar in the Barmal district of Paktika province, 160 miles (260 kilometers) southeast of Kabul, on the border with Pakistan. The blast killed four civilians and wounded 12, said Mokhlis Afghan, a spokesman for the provincial governor's office.

Among the dead ? and the likely target of the attack ? was Sher Nawaz, head of a new district council in the Shakeen area of Paktika province, Afghan said.

In the Taliban's announcement on its offensive, it suggested it would try to limit civilian casualties in its operations.

"Strict attention must be paid to the protection and safety of civilians during spring operations by working out a meticulous military plan," it said.

A United Nations report released earlier this year presented evidence that the Taliban was responsible for the majority of civilian deaths in Afghanistan in 2010, and Afghan and NATO officials have repeatedly accused the Taliban of breaking its own rules of engagement.

According to documents from the Joint Intelligence Group at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the Taliban systematically recruits and trains juveniles to be suicide bombers.

The documents, recently released under a Freedom of Information Act request, include statements from detainees and suggest that child recruitment is organized and extensive among Islamic militant groups.

U.S. military intelligence officers said juveniles are often recruited at mosques and Islamic schools and that they are in turn encouraged to recruit their friends. Some are lured by extremist literature or videos. The documents suggest that extremists find youths easier to recruit than adults and that they become more pliant disciples of militant Islam.

"Taliban used hard-line interpretation of the Quran as a recruitment tool," according to the confidential documents.

The reports say that juveniles are used to perform a variety of tasks including delivering messages, conducting surveillance and fighting on the battlefield.

"Juveniles are more willing to martyr themselves due to their lack of reasoning on taking innocent lives," the documents say.

A March 2010 article in the CTC Sentinel, published by an independent think-tank called the Combating Terrorism Center at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, described how juveniles routinely attended militant training camps in Waziristan, along the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan near the site of Sunday's suicide attack.

"The age of suicide bombers range from seven to 40," according to the article, which drew heavily from Pakistani police interrogations and interviews with suspected militants. "Large suicide training camps operate in two categories: junior and senior camps."

In other violence Sunday, a gunman opened fire on a checkpoint in the southwest province of Ghazni, killing two policemen and wounding a bystander during an hour-long battle, provincial police chief Zerawar Zahid said.

In a separate attack in Ghazni, militants detonated a bicycle rigged with explosives outside the provincial police headquarters complex, wounding 13 civilians, according to provincial officials.The wounded included an 11-year-old girl and two young boys. They had light shrapnel wounds, said Dr. Mohammad Ismail Ibrahimzai, head of the Ghazni Provincial Hospital.

In the country's south, a suspected militant shot and killed an Afghan soldier at a checkpoint in Kandahar city, said deputy police chief Shershah Yousafzai.

In other violence in Kandahar, policemen receiving NATO-donated supplies including caps and protective eyewear drew guns and fought over the items, leaving one policeman dead and four wounded, said Arghandab district governor Shah Mohammad.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

For more information about reprints & permissions, visit our FAQ's. To report corrections and clarifications, contact Standards Editor Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and state for verification. To view our corrections, go to corrections.usatoday.com.We've updated the Conversation Guidelines. Changes include a brief review of the moderation process and an explanation on how to use the "Report Abuse" button. Read more.

USATODAY.com

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.