AFGHANISTAN: Seven Afghans killed and several wounded in two separate bomb blasts

Seven Afghans were killed and several wounded on Thursday (December 21) in two separate bomb blasts, police said. "I was washing a car with my cousin, a man parked a cart nearby. I was standing with my cousin and we went to buy some bananas. Suddenly I heard a big bang and I saw that cart with bananas blew up. I don't know what else happened," said Jalil Ahmad a wounded boy at the hospital who witnessed the incident. No further details were immediately available. Herat is generally considered one of the safest parts of Afghanistan in the bloodiest year since the Taliban were ousted in 2001. No foreign troops were injured in the second blast which targeted their convoy in Khost province bordering Pakistan, police said. More than 4,000 people have been killed in fighting this year, a quarter of them civilians. As NATO seeks more troops and better flexibility to tackle a resurgent Taliban boosted by drugs money and safe havens in Pakistan, Germany said on Thursday it would probably approve an alliance request for help with aerial surveillance. Berlin is expected to send six Tornado jets and about 250 more troops for the mission. Germany has 3,000 soldiers in Afghanistan, mostly stationed in Kabul and around the relatively stable north. It has resisted pressure from NATO allies, especially the United States and Britain, to redeploy some troops to the more volatile south, the Taliban's heartland and scene of most of this year's bloodshed.

ITN Source | December 21, 2006

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