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    January 18, 2012

Bomb Attacks Kill 16 in Southern Afghanistan

   VOA News

   Afghan officials say two bomb attacks in the volatile southern Helmand
   province killed at least 16 people Wednesday.
   In the first attack, a suicide bomber on a motorcycle killed 10
   civilians and two police officers in the Kajaki district. More than 20
   people were wounded in the blast.
   The second attack took place hours later in the Nad Ali district. A
   provincial spokesman, Daud Ahmadi, said an Afghan intelligence
   official, two of his bodyguards, and a fourth person were killed by a
   remote-controlled bomb.
   The Taliban claimed responsibility for the second attack.
   The commander of International Security Assistance Force, U.S. General
   John R. Allen, condemned the attacks. In a statement Wednesday, Allen
   said "these attacks against the people of Afghanistan have no effect on
   the progress we are together making here with our Afghan partners and
   will only further isolate the Taliban from the process of peace
   negotiation."
   General Allen added that "this latest act of violence further confirms
   that the insurgency has declared outright war on the people of
   Afghanistan and will stop at nothing to continue to use terrorism and
   intimidation to advance their own malign and selfish ends."

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

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