Terror Attack Catalogue

Date: May 26th, 2010
Method: Car Bomb
Location: Kandahar, Afghanistan
Death Toll: 0
Injury Toll: 0
Perpetrators: Unconfirmed

The International News reports:

A car bomb exploded Wednesday near a US-run civilian-military base in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar but there were no casualties, police said as Afghan and US troops cordoned off the area.

Regional police chief General Mohammad Shafiq Afzali told foreign news agency the car had been in the parking lot of the Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT), but it was unclear if it was detonated remotely or by a suicide bomber. "There have not been any casualties," he said.

Date: April 28th, 2010
Method: IED
Location: Tani District in Khowst Province - Afghanistan
Death Toll: 12
Injury Toll: 0
Perpetrators: Unconfirmed

The Los Ageles Times reports:

Pointing up the dangers faced by Afghan civilians as insurgents take aim at Western troops, a minibus in eastern Afghanistan hit a roadside bomb Wednesday, killing 12 passengers, provincial officials said.
Taliban fighters and other insurgents have made roadside bombs their weapon of choice. Although buried bombs are the No. 1 killer of Western troops, they kill and maim far larger numbers of Afghan civilians.
Many of the devices are planted on roads known to be used by military convoys, but civilian vehicles travel them as well, often with deadly results.
***

The explosion came as Kabul, the capital, was on high security alert during a military parade marking the 18th anniversary of the toppling of a Soviet-installed government by mujahedin who drove the Red Army out of Afghanistan.

Two years ago, the Taliban attacked the anniversary observances in a bid to assassinate President Hamid Karzai. Karzai was not present for this year's parade; he was at a regional conference in the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan.

Date: April 27th, 2010
Method: Suicide Bomber, Explosives
Location: Kandahar, Afghanistan
Death Toll: 3
Injury Toll: 35
Perpetrators: Unconfirmed

The Associated Press explains:

Since April 12, at least 20 civilians, including eight children, have been killed in Kandahar, according to an AP count. Local officials, aid workers and contractors for U.S. development projects have been targeted by Taliban fighters trying to disrupt the upcoming military operation, expected to accelerate this summer.

Date: April 26th, 2010
Method: Animal Cart Bomb
Location: Kandahar, Afghanistan
Death Toll: 3 (children)
Injury Toll: 4
Perpetrators: Unconfirmed

The Hindu reports:

The cart was abandoned in front a tribal chief’s residence in the centre of Kandahar city on Monday afternoon and was then remotely detonated, said Zalmai Ayoubi, spokesman for the provincial governor of Kandahar province.
Haji Fazelluddin, the former governor of Spin Boldak district, was not hurt in the attack, but three of his nephews, aged 12 to 14, were killed, he said, adding that two police officers guarding the residence and two civilian passers—by were injured.
Mr. Fazelluddin is an influential tribal elder in the province and one of the main allies of President Hamid Karzai in the region.

Date: April 26th, 2010
Method: Triple Bombing
Location: Kandahar, Afghanistan
Death Toll: 2
Injury Toll: 2
Perpetrators: Unconfirmed (Suspected Taliban)

CNN reports:

"One remote control bomb on the road was detonated while a police convoy was passing on the road. And the second bomb was set in motorbike, on the same road, and that detonated after the first one," said Zalmai Ayoobi, a spokesman for the Kandahar government.

Mr Sherzad said he believed he was the target of the attack, in which two civilians died, although he was not in the convoy at the time.

A third blast took place about two hours later but no one was injured.

Kandahar, which is seen as the key battleground in US-led efforts to reverse an insurgency that has lasted nearly nine years, has been the scene of escalating Taliban violence including similar bombings, assassinations and suicide attacks in recent months.

The UN has ordered its staff in Kandahar to stay indoors due to the rapidly deteriorating security situation in the volatile city.

Date: April 25th, 2010
Method: Poison Gas
Location: Girl School Kunduz, Afghanistan
Death Toll: 0
Injury Toll: 48
Perpetrators: Unconfirmed (Suspected Taliban)

The New York Times reports:

Provincial police chief Abdul Razzaq Yaqubi said about 48 girls and several teachers became ill suddenly and many collapsed after smelling poison gas at the school in the northern city of Kunduz, where there has been an upsurge in insurgent violence.
***
The Taliban banned all education for girls when they ruled Afghanistan from 1996-2001 and it remains a disputed issue in much of Afghanistan.

Date: April 25th, 2010
Method: Suicide Bomber
Location: A bazaar in the Sharjoy District - Zabul Province, Afghanistan
Death Toll: 3-4
Injury Toll: 7
Perpetrators: Unconfirmed (Suspected Taliban)

BBC News reports:

The bomber was reportedly on foot and wearing an explosives-packed vest when he targeted a group of security guards, a provincial government spokesman said.

Zabul has witnessed increased insurgent activity in recent months.

Date: April 20th, 2010
Method: Motorcycle Bomb
Location: Khost, Afghanistan
Death Toll: 0
Injury Toll: 0
Perpetrators: Unconfirmed

The New York Times reports:

The explosives, which were strapped to a motorcycle, detonated as a convoy of police was passing, Mubarez Zadran, spokesman for the provincial governor said.

Khost, which is near the Pakistan border, has seen a number of bomb attacks and suicide strikes in recent months against Afghan government targets and foreign troops.

Date: April 15th, 2010
Method: Suicide Car Bomb, IED
Location: Kandahar, Afghanistan
Death Toll: 3
Injury Toll: 26
Perpetrators: Unconfirmed

Several News Agencies reported yesterday that as many as 7 British contract workers were feared dead. The most recent article on the attack, published by the Press Association, reports that Kandahar's provincial governor Tooryalai Wesa claims no foreigners were killed in the attack.

[A total of 26 people were injured, 10 of them foreigners, including three Americans and a South African] and three Afghans were killed when a suicide bomber detonated a car full of explosives in southern Afghanistan, authorities have said.

Date: April 15th, 2010
Method: Car Bomb
Location: Kandahar, Afghanistan
Death Toll: 0
Injury Toll: 8
Perpetrators: Suspected Taliban

The Associated Press reports:

Aghalala, a money changer working the street in front of the hotel, said two men pulled up in the car, parked it, and walked away. Five minutes later the white sedan exploded, said Aghalala, who uses only one name.
***
Kandahar is the main city of Afghanistan's volatile south from which the hardline Taliban Islamic militant movement emerged as a political and military force in the early 1990s. NATO forces are expected to launch a major operation in and around the city this summer in a bid to root out insurgents and turn around the nearly nine-year war. The Taliban has reasserted its presence in large parts of the country from which it had faded following the 2001 U.S. invasion that toppled its regime.

Date: April 12th, 2010
Method: Mortar
Location: Kabul, Afghanistan
Death Toll: 3
Injury Toll: 0
Perpetrators: Taliban

The Associated Press reports:

Three women died when mortars fired by suspected insurgents fell on their homes in an increasingly volatile area just north of the capital Kabul, officials said Tuesday.

The entrenched Taliban insurgency is accused of targeting Afghan civilians to spread fear and undercut the authority of Afghanistan's central government, which remains weak, particularly outside Kabul. Formerly stable areas such as Kapisa have become virtual no-go zones for foreigners and non-governmental organizations.

Date: April 11th, 2010
Method: IED/Roadside Bom
Location: Daman District, Afghanistan
Death Toll: 4 civilians (1 soldier)
Injury Toll: 14
Perpetrators: Suspected Taliban

The Associated Press reports:

A home-made bomb tore through a bus carrying a mine clearance team in southern Afghanistan on Sunday, killing four people and injuring more than a dozen others, officials said.
The improvised explosive device -- the Taliban and other militants' weapon of choice against foreign forces and government targets -- detonated as they drove on a dirt road near Daman district.

Date: April 10th, 2010
Method: Suicide Bomb, Guns, Grenades
Location: Emergency Hospital (Italian NGO) in Lashkar Gah, Afghanistan
Death Toll: N/A Attack Foiled
Injury Toll: N/A Attack Foiled
Perpetrators: Operation was funded by the Afghan Taliban based in Pakistan - As per: Helmand Provincial Governor, Gulab Mangal

The New York Times reports:

Suicide vests and grenades hidden in boxes of medicine were found Saturday in a hospital run by an Italian charity in the capital of Helmand Province, Lashkar Gah, and three Italian citizens were detained along with six Afghans who worked at the hospital, according to the provincial governor and Interior Ministry officials in Kabul.
“Initially, the plan was to carry out two attacks in Lashkar Gah, either in a densely populated area or at a picnic site in the outskirts of the city which would of course inflict heavy casualties,” Mr. Mangal said.
The second attack was to have been carried out while he was visiting the injured who were being treated in the Emergency hospital. Mr. Mangal said he usually visited the wounded after attacks.

Emergency, which was set up in 1994 in Milan, has had a facility in Lashkar Gah since 2003 and has operated in Afghanistan since 1999, treating 2.5 million people, according to its website.

Date: April 8th, 2010
Method: 5 Suicide Bombers
Location: Kabul, Afghanistan
Death Toll: N/A - Attack Foiled
Injury Toll: N/A - Attack Foiled
Perpetrators: Al-Qaeda

The Associated Press reports:

Afghan police, acting on an intelligence tip, have arrested five would-be suicide bombers as they were trying to enter Kabul — the largest suicide bomb team ever apprehended in the capital.

Date: April 7th, 2010
Method: Suicide Bomber
Location: Jalalabad, Afghanistan
Death Toll: 1
Injury Toll: 15
Perpetrators: Unconfirmed

The Associated Press reports:
The Afghan Ministry of Interior says the explosion early Wednesday appeared to have targeted a NATO convoy passing through the city's main intersection.