Afghan Cabinet minister escapes bombing; 4 dead

Source: AP/yahoo news

KABUL – An explosion targeting Afghanistan's energy minister outside a girls school killed four civilians in the country's far west, police said. A Taliban official claimed responsibility for the Sunday morning blast.

Taliban assassination attempts against Afghan officials have intensified this year, with more than 100 officials and pro-government tribal elders attacked — half of them fatally.

The convoy carrying Energy Minister Ismail Khan, a powerbroker in the western region of Herat, was headed to the airport when the bomb exploded outside the high school, said Raouf Ahmadi, a police spokesman. Ahmadi said four civilians died and 17 people were wounded, including four of Khan's bodyguards.

He said Khan escaped unharmed and arrived safely at the airport.


Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090927/ap_on_re_as/as_afghanistan

Three French soldiers have died in an operation in north-eastern Afghanistan, the French presidency says.

It says the soldiers, serving with a parachute regiment, "died accidentally" at night in Kapisa province.

A senior French military official told French media that the three soldiers died when their unit was hit by a violent storm.

Last month, 10 French soldiers were killed and 21 injured in an ambush east of the capital of Kabul.

~snip~

'Hit by lightning'

"These three soldiers... have paid with their life for France's commitment to peace and the security of the Afghan people," French President Nicolas Sarkozy said in a statement.


more:http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/8277098.stm

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it causes me nausea really.