KANDAHAR, Afghanistan – An attacker blew himself up in a failed assault on coalition forces yesterday in volatile southern Afghanistan, while two U.S. helicopters made emergency landings during combat, officials said.
The attempted attack against the coalition forces occurred after their convoy passed through the former Taliban stronghold of Kandahar. Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman Yousuf Stanekzai said the explosives detonated when the attacker was hit by a motorcycle. The blast killed the attacker and the motorcycle driver and wounded two other people, U.S. military and Afghan police officials said.
One of the wounded was a coalition soldier, who was treated for minor injuries and returned to duty, said Lt. Mike Cody, a coalition spokesman. The convoy and the injured soldier were Canadian, Lt. Col. Steve Borland told The Canadian Press.
U.S. and Canadian officials called the attacker a suicide bomber, but a police officer at the scene said the man was apparently trying to throw a grenade.
Hours earlier, the military said five U.S. troops and an Afghan soldier suffered relatively minor injuries when two helicopters made emergency landings during combat operations. All the injured were in stable condition, the military said.
The five U.S. soldiers were hurt when a CH-47 Chinook landed north of Kandahar, suffering serious damage, the military said. The other helicopter made an emergency landing at a forward operating base in neighboring Uruzgan province, injuring the Afghan soldier, the military said.
A self-described Taliban spokesman, Qari Mohammed Yousaf, claimed the group had shot down one of the helicopters north of Kandahar with a rocket, but he also said that all aboard were killed. Yousaf often calls media outlets to claim responsibility for attacks with information that proves exaggerated or untrue. His ties to the Taliban leadership are unclear.
The U.S. military said it was investigating the causes of the incidents.
Also yesterday, Esmatullah Muhabat, a former militia leader elected to parliament in September, was shot dead in a gunfight that apparently erupted during a dispute over firewood. Stanekzai said three of Muhabat's followers were also killed in the clash.
Some 20,000 coalition troops are fighting Taliban and al-Qaeda-linked insurgents in southern and eastern Afghanistan. Increased violence has left nearly 1,500 people dead this year – the bloodiest since U.S.-led forces ousted the Taliban – and has cast a shadow over efforts to sow stability and democracy in the war-torn nation.
