Bomb Kills 21 Afghans Traveling to Wedding Ceremony
By VOA News
06 August 2009
Afghan officials say a roadside bomb has killed 21 Afghan civilians traveling to a wedding in southern Afghanistan.
The wedding guests were riding in a trailer towed by a tractor when the bomb went off Thursday in the Garmser district of the southern Afghan province of Helmand. Officials say women and children were among the dead. Five people were wounded.
A second roadside bomb in another part of Helmand killed five Afghan policemen Thursday.
Helmand is a stronghold of Taliban militants who have intensified attacks to try to disrupt Afghanistan's presidential election on August 20. U.S. and NATO forces are trying to stabilize the area ahead of the vote.
In other violence, NATO says a roadside bomb killed an American soldier Wednesday in western Afghanistan. It says the soldier was in a NATO patrol that fought with insurgents who were seen placing bombs.
NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Wednesday on a visit to Kabul that the alliance will strengthen its military efforts to defeat the Taliban. He was speaking at a joint news conference with Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
Mr. Karzai said that if he is re-elected to a second term, he will focus on holding peace talks with insurgents who are not linked to al-Qaida.
The NATO chief said he would support a dialogue between the Afghan government and its opponents provided that the government negotiates from a "position of strength." He said militant groups that engage in talks also must lay down their weapons.
Rasmussen also said NATO is doing its utmost to minimize civilian casualties during operations against militants. Such casualties have caused deep resentment among the Afghan public.
Independent monitoring group icasualties.org says 76 U.S. and NATO troops died in Afghanistan in July, making it the deadliest month for international forces since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.
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