21 civilians killed in S Afghanistan's suicide attacks
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency
Tehran, July 28, IRNA -- Suicide attackers killed at least 21 people, 12 of them young children, when they targeted government buildings in southern Afghanistan on Thursday, the latest blow to a fragile region that has been destabilized by a string of assassinations.
During the assaults which happened in Uruzgan province 38 civilians were also wounded, provincial officials said. It was the deadliest in the south in nearly six months.
It began with two remote-controlled car bombs, one in front of the provincial governor's compound in the provincial capital of Tirin Kot and the other near the offices for the regional state television channel, Uruzgan TV, the governor’s spokesman, Ahmad Milad Modaser said.
Up to six suicide bombers then stormed the governor's compound and the police chief's compound in Tirin Kot, capital of Uruzgan, said Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi.
Three bombers detonated their explosives shortly after the attacks began while the remaining attackers were locked in an hours-long gunfight with police inside the compounds, he added.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack and spokesman Qari Yousuf Ahmadi said six militants were involved.
Uruzgan is a largely rural and mountainous province north of Kandahar, to which it has many cultural and tribal links, and the Taliban have long had a presence there.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
