Suicide bomber kills at least 17 at Afghan bath house

Suicide bomber kills at least 17 at Afghan bath house

2011-01-07 22:02:10 GMT+7 (ICT)

KABUL (BNO NEWS) -- At least seventeen people were killed on Friday when a suicide bomber targeted a bath house in southern Afghanistan, officials said. Nearly two dozen others were injured.

The attack happened around midday when a suicide bomber detonated his explosives vest at a bath house near a bazaar in the Spin Boldak district of Kandahar Province. Scores of people were in the area at the time of the blast.

U.S. and coalition officials said the blast left at least seventeen people killed, including an Afghan Border Patrolman, a police inspector and 12 Afghan civilians. Twenty-three others, including three Afghan Border Patrolmen and one Afghan National Police Officer, were wounded.

"Our sincerest condolences go out to the family and friends of the murdered Afghan civilians and our partners in the Afghan National Security Forces," said Rear Admiral Vic Beck, Director of Public Affairs for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). "In this heinous act, the insurgents once again show how little regard they have for the safety and sanctity of Afghan life."

The U.S. Embassy in Kabul said the United States 'strongly condemned' the suicide bombing. "This callous terrorist act was aimed at men gathered to wash before Friday prayer," an Embassy statement said, adding that the U.S. continues to stand with its partners to fight terrorism.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the deadly attack on the bath house, although the group frequently claims credit for incidents it was not involved, makes up incidents that never happened for propaganda purposes, or exaggerates the details.

"Reports from Spin Boldak district say that a few moments earlier, Muhammad Khan, a hero of Islamic Emirate (Taliban) carried out a martyrdom attack on Ramazan, a border police commander while the commander was getting a haircut in Haji Ni'matullah's barber shop," a statement from the insurgent group said.

The condition of the mentioned police commander was not immediately known, although the Taliban claimed he was killed in the attack.

Earlier on Friday, ISAF said three of its coalition service members were killed in two separate attacks in southern and eastern Afghanistan. One service member was killed as a result of an improvised explosive device (IED) attack in southern Afghanistan, while another IED attack killed two more service members in the country's east.

So far this year, a total of eight coalition service members have been killed in Afghanistan, according to a BNO News count based on official information. Most troops are killed in the country's south, which is plagued by IED attacks on troops and civilians.

-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2011-01-07