Truck bombing kills two Afghan civilians outside U.S. military base

Truck bombing kills two Afghan civilians outside U.S. military base

2011-09-11 06:37:58 GMT+7 (ICT)

KABUL (BNO NEWS) -- Two Afghan civilians were killed on Saturday and others were injured when a suicide bomber detonated his explosive-laden truck outside a U.S. military base in eastern Afghanistan, officials said on early Sunday.

The attack happened at around 5.30 p.m. local time when a suspected Taliban insurgent detonated his explosive-laden truck at the entrance of Combat Outpost Sayed Abad, which is located in Wardak province near the capital of Kabul. Most of the victims were civilians.

"We believe that two Afghan civilians died, and our thoughts are with those families," a spokesperson for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said. "Additionally, we believe the insurgent driver of the [vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED)] is dead."

The spokesperson said most of the force of the explosion was absorbed by the protective barrier at the post entrance. "The explosion damaged the compound entrance and was not followed-up by any subsequent attacks," the spokesperson said, adding that operations at the post were continuing.

In addition to the two civilian fatalities, an unknown number of people were injured. The Pajhwok Afghan news agency, however, reported that at least 20 people were injured, including 10 American service members.

The attack came on the eve of the tenth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, when nineteen al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four passenger planes before crashing two of them into the World Trade Center in New York and another into the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. The fourth, United Flight 93, crashed into a field in Stonycreek Township near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Nearly 3,000 people were killed.

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