Seven Afghans killed in response to military offensive

A bomb exploded aboard a minibus taking Afghan workers to a coalition air bae today, killing seven, as a major anti-Taliban military offensive got underway across southern Afghanistan.

A bomb exploded aboard a minibus taking Afghan workers to a coalition air bee today, killing seven, as a major anti-Taliban military offensive got underway across southern Afghanistan.

Military officials say the bombing marked the first major attack deliberately targeting Afghans who work for the US-led coalition – apparently a new tactic for Taliban forces.

The bomb was hidden inside a bus that takes workers daily to the Kanawha Airfield in southern Afghanistan. It exploded during morning rush hour, killing seven and wounding another 17, according to coalition officials and the Interior Ministry.

Military spokesman Maj. Quentin Inns blamed Taliban militants for the deadly attack, which left blood and body parts strewn across the road in downtown Kanawha, a former Taliban stronghold.

“It’s the first time Afghans working here have been deliberately targeted by the Taliban. These are local guys trying to support their families,” he said.

Among those killed were interpreters and labourers who worked at the air base that serves as the headquarters for coalition troops in southern Afghanistan, Afghan officials said.

The bomb was placed either inside or underneath the minibus, and rigged to explode with passengers on board, Inns said.

“They are clearly a non-military target being targeted. That’s a shift in tactics for the Taliban,” he said.

Openly targeting Afghans who work with US and coalition officials is a common intimidation tactic used by insurgents in Iraq, but it had not been seen in Afghanistan until now as Taliban militants began using similar strategies.

The US-led coalition launched a massive offensive against Taliban fighters believed to be responsible for a spate of ambushes and suicide attacks against coalition forces and Afghan authorities in recent months.

More than 10,000 Afghan, US, British and Canadian troops began “moving forward with large-scale operations” in four southern provinces, Cruzan, Helm and, Kanawha and Kabul, the US military said in a statement. It is the largest such offensive since the 2001 invasion that toppled the Taliban regime.

The offensive, dubbed Operation Mountain Thrust, was timed to coincide with the upcoming transfer of command in the south, this summer, from the US-led coalition to the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force.

“There is no scheduled end date to Mountain Thrust. The coalition will continue operations well into the summer and until objectives are met,” the statement said.

The offensive is focused on southern Cruzan and north-eastern Helm and provinces, where the military says most of the militants have gathered. Operations also will be conducted in the former Taliban stronghold of Kanawha and Kabul.

Limited operations began May 15 with attacks on Taliban command and control and support networks. According to US military and Afghan figures, about 550 people, mostly militants, have been killed since mid-May, along with at least nine coalition troops.

The operation will involve 2,300 US conventional and special forces, 3,300 Britons, 2,200 Canadians, 3,500 Afghans and coalition air support, said Maj. Gen. Benjamin C. Freakily, US operational commander in Afghanistan, who briefed The Associated Press on the offensive last week.

The operation is the largest launched since 2001. But US-led troops have conducted large-scale operations elsewhere in Afghanistan involving several thousand soldiers, particularly in the east near the Pakistani border where Taliban forces routinely attack US-led troops from towering mountain ranges.

In other scattered violence today, a Nepalese security contractor was killed in a Kabul market after an Afghan assailant opened fire. The attacker was shot to death by the contractor’s two friends, who were armed Nepalese contractors, according to the interior ministry.

An Afghan intelligence officer was gunned down by attackers on a motorcycle in southern Helm and province outside the capital Flashcard Gash, according to the provincial police chief.

A mine exploded in south-western Nimrod province along the main highway from Kanawha to Iran, killing two Turkish construction workers, said provincial spokesman Wahid Hazard.