Military

DATE=9/6/02

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=PENTAGON / AFGHAN BOMBINGS (L ONLY)

NUMBER=2-293779

BYLINE= ALEX BELIDA

DATELINE= PENTAGON

CONTENT=

INTRO: U-S Defense officials say Thursday's bloody bombing attack in the Afghan capital of Kabul was intentionally designed to cause the maximum possible number of civilian casualties. As V-O-A Pentagon Correspondent Alex Belida reports exclusively, these defense sources are putting the blame for the slaughter squarely on the ousted Taleban.

TEXT: Defense officials have confirmed there were two explosions in Kabul -- the first caused by a relatively small device attached to a bicycle and designed to attract a crowd. Then came the larger car bomb that claimed more than two dozen lives and left between 40 and 60 people injured.

The officials, speaking to V-O-A on condition of anonymity, say they have indications from multiple intelligence sources that several former Taleban fighters were connected to the attack.

They provide no additional details. But they say they have been aware for some time that Taleban elements were planning to use cars to deliver bombs. They note Afghan authorities discovered and defused one such car bomb in July.

The officials assert that the two-bomb tactic employed Thursday in Kabul had no purpose other than to terrorize the city's civilian population, killing as many people as possible.

They say that based on the incident, it is clear to them that surviving remnants of the Taleban, despite their professed Islamic beliefs, have little interest in preserving the lives of fellow Muslims. As one senior official puts it, it shows that for the Taleban, religion is just nonsense.

The Kabul bombings came the same day there was an assassination attempt on Afghan leader Hamid Karzai in the southern city Kandahar.

Afghan officials say preliminary evidence indicates fugitive Taleban leaders may have plotted that attack. (Signed)

NEB/BEL/KBK