Afghan bus hits bomb, 25 killed
July 28: A packed bus hit a roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan on Wednesday killing 25 people aboard, as Nato announced another US service member died in a rapidly rising monthly death toll.
The passenger bus was travelling in Nimroz province on a main highway toward the capital, Kabul, when it struck the explosive about 7 am, said Nazir Ahmad, a provincial government spokesman. Another 20 people were wounded, he said.
The explosion occurred near Delaram — a volatile area close to the borders of Helmand and Farah provinces. Afghan President Hamid Karzai condemned the attack. “The criminals who did this are the enemies of Muslims,” he said in a statement.
Meanwhile, Nato forces said a US troop was killed in an insurgent attack in southern Afghanistan on Tuesday, without giving further details. July is already one of the deadliest months for US troops in the nearly nine-year Afghan war, with 59 service members killed so far. That’s just shy of the 60 that died in June — the deadliest month for US forces. Altogether, 80 Nato troops have died in July. In June, 103 Nato forces were killed.
The rising death toll comes as US forces continue the search for a missing Navy sailor believed captured last week by Taliban forces when he and a colleague drove into an insurgent-held area of eastern Afghanistan. One of the sailors was killed in a firefight with militants, and the Taliban has said they seized the other. Nato officials were unable to say what the two service members were doing in such a dangerous part of eastern Afghanistan.
The sailors were instructors at a counterinsurgency school for Afghan security forces, according to senior military officials.
Post new comment