Explosion Kills 13 in Kandahar

07/01/2004| IslamWeb

A bomb attached to a bicycle killed at least 13 people, most of them children, and injured dozens more in this southern city yesterday - a bloody reminder of the violence still sweeping Afghanistan two years after the fall of the Taliban. Officials said the blast may have been intended for US troops who regularly patrol the road where the bomb went off, or for the provincial governor, whose motorcade was about to pass that way. Witnesses said they saw wrecked bicycles, blood and shattered glass from a passing truck strewn across the road, which was quickly sealed off by dozens of Afghan and US soldiers. Police said eight children, ages 7-15, died at the scene, apparently among a crowd that had gathered after another explosion went off at the same spot a few minutes earlier. More than 50 people were injured, and three more children died later in the hospital, police and officials said. Deputy Police Chief Salim Khan suggested the twin blasts may have been targeting soldiers from an Afghan military base just 100 metres away. "They were chasing a suspect when they second explosion occurred," he said. But Deputy Interior Minister Hilalludin Hillal said US troops or Kandahar Governor Yusuf Pashtun were more likely targets. "They don't care so much about Afghan troops," he said. Khan said a man spotted running from the area was caught trying to hide in a nearby home. He said the arrested man had been taken to an Afghan military headquarters for interrogation. Khan said the bomb on the bicycle also killed a truck driver and a passer-by. In the capital, Kabul, President Hamid Karzai interrupted celebratory talks with convention delegates - who'd just ratified a new post-Taliban constitution - to condemn the attack as "barbarism." "These enemies of Afghanistan, who hide in the darkness to launch attacks on innocent civilians, must be eliminated, and they will be eliminated," said Karzai. **PHOTO CAPTION*** U.S. soldiers walk near the bombing scene in Kandahar, Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2004. (AP Photo/Noor Khan)