AFGHANISTAN: Increased security around the Bagram airbase following suicide car bombing which killed at least 23 people.
- 00:00:48
- ITN Source
AFGHANISTAN: Increased security around the Bagram airbase following suicide car bombing which killed at least 23 people.
Security has been increased around the U.S. Bagram airbase following a Taliban attack which killed at least 23 people on Tuesday. A spokesman for the Afghan Interior Ministry said they were ready to combat any further attacks but local people said they were worried for their safety. There was tight security around the U.S. airbase at Bagram on Wednesday (February 28) a day after a suicide blast appeared to target U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney. At least 23 people, including an American soldier and a South Korean serviceman, died in Tuesday's suicide car bombing at the main U.S. base in Afghanistan, 60 kilometres (40 miles) north of Kabul in an area that has seen little violence since 2001. Cheney was never in danger from the attack, which occurred just inside a perimeter gate, and he was whisked to a bomb shelter immediately after the blast. He later went ahead with talks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai in Kabul before leaving for Oman. The Taliban said on Wednesday said they are steeling for a spring offensive and have sent 1,000 suicide bombers to relatively quiet northern Afghanistan. On Wednesday, Afghan policemen set up a checkpoint to search people who work inside the base, while also also checking all cars and vehicles coming into the Bagram district. "We are here with an increase of security to prevent any other possible enemy raids, I want to assure our people that we have our full security preparation," said Abdul Hoda, a police officer searching cars entering the Bagram district. Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman Zamari Bashary said the Afghan force were fully prepared for any further offensives. "For the spring offence and attacks of the enemies of Afghanistan we have prepared ourselves," he said. "We have fortified our forces, we have reinforced and strengthened the capability of the police down in the sauterne province and across Afghanistan all over, and we are hopeful that this year we will be successful by the support of the international community and by the measures that we have taken for our forces." Civilians arriving for work on Wednesday at the base said they were worried by the attack. "It was a very sad incident, it made us worried, and such incidents will affect the people badly; we are worried," said Bagram shopkeeper Ajmal Walizada. The United States and other NATO nations, led by Britain, are pouring troops in to battle the offensive and to try to crush the insurgents in what analysts say is the crunch year for both sides after the bloodiest 12 months since the Taliban fell in 2001. mb/jrc
ITN Source | February 28, 2007
