Suicide bomber takes 9 lives in a blast outside NATO’s base in Afghanistan

A suicide car bomber rammed his vehicle into the gates of a NATO base and airport in eastern Afghanistan on Monday, triggering a blast that killed nine Afghans, officials said. The Taliban claimed the attack was revenge for U.S.
troops burning copies of the Koran.

The bombing in the city of Jalalabad followed six days of deadly protests in the country over the disposal of Korans and other Islamic texts in a burn pit last week at a U.S. military base north of Kabul.

American officials have called the disposal of the books a mistake and have issued a series of apologies. Afghan President Hamid Karzai has urged calm, calling on his countrymen not to allow insurgents to capitalize on their indignation
to spark violence.

About 40 people, including four U.S. soldiers, have been killed in protests and related attacks since the incident became known on Tuesday. NATO, France, Britain and the U.S. have pulled their advisers from Afghan ministries out
of concern that the anti-foreigner anger might erupt again.

On Monday, the United Nations also scaled back its operations, moving its international staff from an office in the northern city of Kunduz that was attacked during protests Saturday, the organization said in a statement.

The evacuation was ordered “to put in place additional arrangements and measures to make sure the office can continue to operate in safety,” the United Nations said, adding that the move is temporary and that staff will be relocated
within Afghanistan. Despite the pullback, the commander of NATO and U.S. forces in Afghanistan said that the partnership with the Afghan government was as strong as ever.

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Posted by Hamza Jahangir on Feb 28 2012. Filed under Latest News, Pakistan, World. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry