By empty (7/12/2006 issue of the CACI Analyst)
A suicide bomber has driven a taxi into a convoy of US-led troops in Afghanistan, killing himself and a child, officials say. Officials say that the attack happened in the Yaqubay district of Khost province, and that two US soldiers and three other children were injured. Officials blamed the attack on al-Qaeda and Taleban militants, who have mounted a series of attacks throughout 2006.
A suicide bomber has driven a taxi into a convoy of US-led troops in Afghanistan, killing himself and a child, officials say. Officials say that the attack happened in the Yaqubay district of Khost province, and that two US soldiers and three other children were injured. Officials blamed the attack on al-Qaeda and Taleban militants, who have mounted a series of attacks throughout 2006. It has been the bloodiest year since the overthrow of the Taleban in 2001. Correspondents say that most of the violence has been in the country\'s south and east, in provinces bordering Pakistan. Officials say that Wednesday\'s attack took place while the US convoy was parked near a government building in the eastern province of Khost. \"The suicide attacker was blown to pieces and a 12-year-old was killed on his way to school,\" the administrative chief of Yaqubay district, Mirza Jon Nimgari told the Reuters news agency. Correspondents say that until recently suicide bombings in Afghanistan were rare. Wednesday\'s attack brings the number of suicide attacks in Afghanistan this year to nearly 30, more than the total for all of 2005 and dwarfing the figure for 2004. Nearly all the attacks are blamed on the Taleban, who were ousted from government by a US-led coalition in late 2001. Hundreds of people have been killed in violence in Afghanistan this year, most of them militants, the US-led coalition and Afghan officials say. (BBC)