By empty (1/5/2006 issue of the CACI Analyst)
At least 10 people have been killed in a suicide bombing in the central Afghan province of Uruzgan, officials say. Many of those killed were civilians in a crowded market 500 metres from the governor\'s office in provincial capital Tarin Kowt. Dozens more were hurt.
At least 10 people have been killed in a suicide bombing in the central Afghan province of Uruzgan, officials say. Many of those killed were civilians in a crowded market 500 metres from the governor\'s office in provincial capital Tarin Kowt. Dozens more were hurt. A man claiming to speak for the Taleban said the group carried out the attack. The bomber\'s target is unclear. US ambassador Ronald Neumann was in the governor\'s office at the time of the blast but was unhurt, officials said. US embassy spokesman Lou Fintor said Ambassador Neumann had returned to Kabul. \"The ambassador and his party are safe and have been accounted for. They were not in any danger,\" he told the Associated Press. President Hamid Karzai, on a visit to Turkey, said the attack had been carried out by the \"enemies of peace\". It is unclear whether the attacker meant to blow himself up in the market, or if his bomb went off prematurely as he headed towards the governor\'s office. The most seriously wounded have been taken to hospital in the nearby city of Kandahar. Witnesses in the market spoke of scenes of carnage. \"People were lying dead and wounded everywhere. They were screaming and crying,\" one man told AP. Deputy governor Aziz told the BBC that the governor, Jan Mohammad Khan, was not present for the talks with the US officials. He is currently in Mecca in Saudi Arabia for the Hajj, the annual Muslim pilgrimage. Taleban spokesman Qari Mohammad Yousuf said a local man, who he named as Abdul Rahim, had carried out the attack. He gave a number of different media organisations varying accounts. (BBC)