15 Killed In Afghan Bombing, Shootout

Team Infidel

Forum Spin Doctor
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
September 7, 2008
By Associated Press
Kandahar, Afghanistan--A suicide bomb attack by a fake beggar inside a regional prosecutor’s office and a shoot-out between police and Taliban militants killed 15 people in Afghanistan on Saturday, officials said.
The suicide bomber penetrated the office in Zaranj, the capital of the southwestern province of Nimroz, said police Chief Mohammad Ayub Badakhshi. Six people died in the blast, including a provincial state attorney.
The bomber entered the compound pretending to be a beggar, said Ghulam Dastagir Azad, the provincial governor.
Elsewhere in Nimroz, Taliban militants attacked a police checkpoint, killing two police, Azad said. He said seven Taliban fighters also were killed in the exchange.
Taliban militants have increased the pace of attacks in Afghanistan this year. More than 4,000 people--mostly militants--have died in insurgency-related violence, according to an Associated Press tally based on figures from Western and Afghan officials.
Attacks in the eastern part of Afghanistan where U.S. troops primarily operate were 20 percent to 30 percent higher in June and July than a year earlier, a key U.S. commander in the area, Maj. Gen. Jeffery J. Schloesser, said last week.
Nearly 200 soldiers in the international forces have died this year, including 105 Americans. The total for all of last year was a record 222.
 
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