KABUL, Afghanistan The dusty truck stop in southern Afghanistan,with its surrounding crush of humble, tumbledown shops outside anAmerican-run military base, was every bit as chaotic andoh-just-give-me-your-business in attitude as always. Logically enough, it was on a busy late morning on Wednesday thatthe attackers chose to strike, with a coolly thought-out plan. Aviolent initial hit, and then a short wait until rescuers arrived.Pause just until the crush of panicked bystanders had rushed in tohelp the bloodiest and most helpless of the victims of the firstthundering explosion. And then a second, equally powerful, blast. That was the scenario that unfolded when a suicide bomber, followedrapidly by a second of his kind, attacked a crowded highway reststop and parking lot for Western-contracted supply trucks backed upoutside of Kandahar airfield, NATO's biggest base in southernAfghanistan. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, which killed atleast 22 people. Many people, at that near-noon hour, had reason to be in thevicinity. The area is a bustling market zone on the main roadleading south to the Pakistani border, toward the ragged frontieroutpost of Spin Buldak. Elsewhere, Afghan officials said 18 women and children were killedalong with about a dozen insurgents in a raid spearheaded by theNATO force outside the Kabul, the capital, before dawn Wednesday. The Western military confirmed the deaths of "multipleinsurgents" in the joint Afghan-NATO operation in Logarprovince, but reported no civilian fatalities. It said two womenwere injured in what a military statement described as a"precision airstrike." The differing casualty counts could not immediately be reconciled. Civilian casualties remain an extremely sore point between theAfghan government and foreign forces, even though the UnitedNations reported a significant drop in injuries and deaths amongnoncombatants in the first four months of this year. As a prelude to the withdrawal of most NATO combat troops in 2014,Afghan troops now take part in all "night raids" like theone in Logar. The Western military often describes such operationsas Afghan-led, although officials acknowledge that keyresponsibilities such as intelligence-gathering, planning,logistics and air support fall to NATO troops. The Logar police chief, Ghulam Sakhi Roghlewani, said Wednesday'spredawn raid in Logar targeted Taliban commanders meeting in theBaraki Barak district. The coalition force called in an airstrikeafter coming under fire, Western and Afghan officials said. The strike destroyed a walled compound, and Afghan officials citedvillagers as saying the bombardment killed 18 women and childrenwho were inside. Police described another 12 or 13 dead asinsurgents and their commanders. We are high quality suppliers, our products such as China Voice PCM Equipment , China Fiber Optic Adaptor for oversee buyer. To know more, please visits Fiber Optic Media Converter.
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