Translated material
blast wave
Afghan militants learn from Iraqi experience
The Taliban claimed responsibility for yesterday's bombing of a bus carrying police school cadets in the center of Kabul. The terrorist attack claimed the lives of 35 people, including 22 police officers. According to Kabul Deputy Police Chief Zalmay Khan, the explosion occurred at eight o'clock in the morning near the headquarters of the Kabul Police Chief. The blast wave tore off the roof and side walls of the bus, scattering bodies over three dozen meters. People nearby at the bus stop were injured. Dozens of mutilated human bodies remained at the scene of the tragedy.According to police, the injured included two Japanese residents, a native of Korea and two Pakistani citizens. The explosion was carried out by a suicide bomber - 23-year-old Mullah Azim Abdul Rahman, a representative of the Taliban movement told an Associated Press correspondent by telephone. Afghan police doubt whether the explosion was carried out by a suicide bomber, as a Taliban spokesman said, or whether the explosive device was pre-planted on the bus. Reuters, citing an eyewitness, reports that the terrorist jumped into the open door of a slowly moving bus.
It was the deadliest terrorist attack since the Taliban were driven out of Kabul in 2001. But yesterday's explosion was not the only one. On Saturday, a suicide bomber blew himself up in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif, killing one and injuring seven others. On the same day in Kabul, a terrorist drove a car bomb into a military convoy of the international coalition. Four people were killed and five more were injured. Under similar circumstances, on Friday in the city of Tarinkot, a Dutch soldier and five Afghan children were killed when an explosive device went off in a car that was blocking the route of a convoy of international peacekeeping forces.
Suicide attacks indicate that the Taliban have mastered militant tactics against American troops in Iraq. It is possible that the terrorist attacks were a response to the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) conducting two successful operations against the Taliban in various parts of Kandahar province on Wednesday, during which 26 militants were killed.