自杀炸弹从以色列开始,蔓延到伊拉克,现在又到阿富汗.今炸死17人

17 people killed in Afghan suicide blast By NOOR KHAN, Associated Press Writer
Tue Jul 10, 8:23 AM ET



KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - A suicide bomber targeted a NATO patrol in a crowded marketplace filled with schoolchildren Tuesday, killing at least 17 people, including 12 students, officials said.

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The attack — one of the deadliest of the year — injured more than 50 people, mostly students, but also seven Dutch soldiers patrolling on foot whom the bomber apparently had targeted.

The Interior Ministry put the death toll at 17. It was not immediately clear if that count also included six deaths reported by NATO\'s International Security Assistance Force, which was treating critical injuries at its medical facility in Tirin Kot, the provincial capital.

Most of 51 wounded were schoolchildren attending a nearby primary school, said Dr. Luma Khan, the chief of Uruzgan\'s health department.

Some of the children were walking to school while other children were selling goods in the market, said Qassim Khan, the provincial police chief.

As the NATO patrol entered the market, a bomber blew himself up outside a pharmacy, destroying seven shops, he said. The market in Dihrawud was a central shopping area for people from nearby villages, he said.

The Dutch Defense Ministry said seven of its troops were injured, one critically.

Maj. John Thomas, a spokesman for NATO\'s International Security Assistance Force, said the bomber showed no concern for the potential deaths and injuries of civilians.

It\'s pretty shocking that with the recent calls by some insurgent leaders to protect civilians in this conflict that they would undertake a massacre of civilians in a marketplace, Thomas said.

The attack came at the southern tip of Uruzgan province, near the border with Helmand and Kandahar — among the most violent areas in Afghanistan and the heart of the poppy-growing region.

The bombing appeared to be the third-deadliest of the year. On June 17, a suicide bomber exploded himself on a bus carrying police instructors in Kabul, killing 35 people. In February, a bomber carrying explosives detonated them outside the main U.S. base at Bagram Air Field, killing 23 people, during a visit by U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney.

Violence has spiked in Afghanistan the last several weeks. More than 3,100 people — mostly militants — have died in insurgency-related violence this year, according to an Associated Press count based on figures from Western and Afghan officials.