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    December 07, 2011

Karzai Blames Pakistan Group for Attacks

   VOA News
   Afghan President Hamid Karzai reacts during a news conference with
   German Chancellor Angela Merkel after a meeting at the chancellery in
   Berlin, December 6, 2011.
   Photo: AP
   Afghan President Hamid Karzai reacts during a news conference with
   German Chancellor Angela Merkel after a meeting at the chancellery in
   Berlin, December 6, 2011.

   President Hamid Karzai has returned to Afghanistan, canceling a trip to
   Britain after a pair of bomb attacks in Afghanistan killed at least 56
   people.
   Karzai arrived Wednesday in the capital Kabul to visit with some of the
   more than 160 wounded in the blasts. He traveled home from Germany,
   where he attended an international conference on Afghanistan.
   Mourners also gathered to bury the victims in Kabul, where on Tuesday
   at least one suicide bomber set off a blast that killed 55 people,
   including one American. The blast happened near the Abul Fazel shrine
   as Shi'ite worshippers gathered on Ashura, the holiest day of the
   Shi'ite Muslim calendar.
   A second explosion killed four people at a shrine in the northern city
   of Mazar-e-Sharif, but it is not clear if Shi'ites were specifically
   targeted.
   In a new attack Wednesday, officials say a roadside bomb hit a bus in
   southern Afghanistan's Helmand province, killing at least 19 civilians.
   Five children were among the dead.
   The Taliban denied involvement in Tuesday's attacks, calling them
   "cruel and indiscriminate" and blaming them on the "invading enemy."
   The Pakistan-based insurgent group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi al-Alami claimed
   responsibility for the Kabul attack.
   The Sunni extremist group is an offshoot of the bigger
   Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, which is affiliated with al-Qaida and is responsible
   for a number of attacks against Shi'ites in Pakistan.
   Karzai said the attacks Tuesday were the first of "that horrible
   nature" to take place on such an important religious day in
   Afghanistan.
   Ashura marks the death of Imam Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet
   Mohammad.
   U.S. President Barack Obama strongly condemned the violence, saying the
   United States continues to stand with the people of Afghanistan against
   terrorism.
   Experts say the attacks, which came a day after the conference to
   discuss Afghanistan's future as international combat troops prepare to
   leave the country, underscores the importance of what was agreed in
   Bonn that all countries in the region need to cooperate in securing
   long-term stability for Afghanistan.

   Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.

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