Roadside bomb kills 10, wounds 28 in Afghanistan

[May 24, 2011]  KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- A roadside bomb killed 10 laborers and wounded 28 on Tuesday as they were being driven to work to clean streams in southern Afghanistan, officials said. Separately, an Afghan deputy intelligence chief escaped an attempted suicide bombing claimed by the Taliban in the nation's capital.

The attacks came as NATO's secretary general said Tuesday that plans to hand over control of seven provinces to Afghan soldiers in July remained on course, despite new bombings and assaults by insurgents who recently started their spring offensive. NATO also acknowledged Tuesday that soldiers shot dead an Afghan holding a flashlight during a raid, something that could add to the growing anti-foreigner sentiment in Afghanistan after nearly a decade of war.

The roadside bomb tore through a truck carrying the workers through restive Kandahar province, said Dr. Qayoum Pakhla, the director of Kandahar Hospital. The local government in the region employed the men to work cleaning rivers and streams there.

"I could see people calling for help and crying," said one of the survivors, who gave his name as Sabdullah. "I saw some of my friends' dead bodies. I was helpless at that moment."

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack in Kandahar, which has seen a rise in incidents in recent days as Taliban fighters try to retake territory lost in the past year.

Meanwhile, Ahmad Ziad, a deputy chief at the National Directorate for Security, was not injured in an attempted suicide bombing that targeted his convoy as he was traveling to work on Tuesday morning, Kabul police said.

Ziad's bodyguards opened fire on a suspicious sport utility vehicle heading toward his convoy, wounding the driver and stopping the speeding SUV laden with explosives, the police said.

The driver was arrested and hospitalized under guard, pending an investigation. Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the attempt in a message to The Associated Press.

The growing number of attacks come as NATO and the United States hope to begin relinquishing control of security to the Afghan military through the end of 2014. President Barack Obama has said the United States, with about 100,000 troops on the ground, will begin a gradual drawdown in July -- with the number to be determined by the situation at the time.

Tuesday, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen told journalists in Kabul that the "transition is on track" for the hand over of seven of Afghanistan's 34 provinces in July. Both Fogh Rasmussen and Afghan President Hamid Karzai urged insurgent fighters to lay down their weapons and embrace an ongoing peace process.

"By shooting at our own countrymen, we gain nothing but the curse of history and the curse of God," Karzai said.

Pakistan's foreign minister, meanwhile, was in Kabul for talks with Karzai, who has been increasingly outspoken about the need for Pakistan to take a stronger role in the fight against militant groups. Trilateral talks on security were scheduled to begin Tuesday between Afghanistan, Pakistan and the United States.

Also Tuesday, NATO said that one of its aircraft has crashed in western Afghanistan but that no one was injured. NATO said in a statement that soldiers secured the crash site and protected those who had been in the aircraft.

NATO forces have faced violent protests over night raids on villages as they try to flush out insurgents. Monday night, NATO forces in southern Helmand province conducting a search shot and killed an Afghan who they said acted hostile and raised an object at troops, the coalition said in a statement.

The man only had a flashlight in his hands, NATO said.

The man continued forward despite translator "instructions and warnings which were relayed in multiple ethnic languages," the coalition said. "This series of callouts was ineffective in allowing the security force to detain the individual peacefully."

NATO also offered new details Tuesday about a Moroccan captured by Afghan forces earlier this month in Zabul province. In a statement, the coalition said the man was an al-Qaida fighter based in Germany who had been approached to be a suicide bomber while in Iran. NATO said the man also told interviewers he saw foreigners from many countries coming to Pakistan to fight against troops in Afghanistan.

NATO did not identify the man or provide further details.

[Associated Press; By JON GAMBRELL and MIRWAIS KHAN]

Jon Gambrell can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/jongambrellAP.

Khan reported from Kandahar. Associated Press writers Amir Shah and Rahim Faiez contributed to this report.

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