# Afghanistan: monthly review, Dec 2006



## GAP (9 Jan 2007)

*Afghanistan: monthly review, Dec 2006*
Article Link

- At least 120 civilians killed or injured in terrorist attacks. 

- Afghan Government takes steps to weaken power base of the Taliban. 

- Tensions between Afghanistan and Pakistan escalate. 

- Asian Development Bank funds electricity transmission line from Tajikistan to Kabul. 

- The Afghan public voices its anger over civilian casualties. 

Security 

After a relative lull during November, suicide attacks have again become significant. Many of these were targeted at international forces but, as in previous months, caused casualties among passing civilians as well as the soldiers targeted. The specific incidents include the following: 

- On 2nd December, two International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) soldiers were killed in a suicide car bomb attack outside Kandahar. 

- On 3rd December, at least three civilians were killed, and many others were injured, in the city of Kandahar when a suicide bomber attempted to ram an ISAF convoy. Three ISAF soldiers were wounded, one of them seriously. Two civilians were reported to have been killed and up to 14 injured following the attack. Some of the casualties were said to have occurred when ISAF soldiers fired on two civilian cars and a motor cycle thought to contain other suicide bombers. Others may have been caused by warning shots fired by ISAF forces, aimed to keep other vehicles away. 

- On 5th December, two civilians were killed and at least three others were injured when a suicide bomber drove his car into another ISAF convoy in the city of Kandahar. 

- On 6th December, five Afghans and two US citizens employed by the US security company, US Protection and Investigation (USPI), were killed and many others were injured, including passers-by, when a suicide bomber on foot detonated explosives outside the USPI office in Kandahar. 

- On 7th December, two civilians were killed, and seven injured, in a further suicide car bomb attack on an ISAF convoy in the city of Kandahar. 

- On 12th December, six people were killed, and eight others were injured, when a suicide bomber managed to enter the office of the Governor of Helmand and detonated explosives strapped to his body. Most of the casualties were security personnel. The Governor was thought to be in the building but escaped injury. 

- On 14th December, four people were killed and over 25 were injured when a suicide bomber blew himself up near a police convoy outside Qalat, the administrative centre of the southern province of Zabul. The casualties were reported to include both police officers and civilians. President Karzai had visited the town two days earlier, travelling by air, and a convoy of his bodyguards had just passed through on its return to Kabul. 

- On 15th December, at least one person was killed and several were injured when a suicide bomber rammed his vehicle into a convoy of Afghan National Army and ISAF forces in the south-eastern province of Paktia. 

- On 17th December, a civilian was killed and three others were injured when a suicide bomber drove his vehicle into a convoy of international troops in the south-eastern province of Khost. 

- On 22nd December, one civilian was killed, and eight others were injured, in a suicide attack in Kabul. The attack was apparently targeted at a member of the Afghan Parliament, Pacha Khan Zadran, who was thought to be in a vehicle leaving his home. Those injured included his son and grandson, together with a driver, bodyguard and four passers-by. Mr Zadran has played a prominent role in the power dynamics of Paktia in recent years. 

Civilian deaths and injuries have occurred as a result of other terrorist attacks on international forces. The specific incidents include the following: 

- On 8th December, two Afghan interpreters were killed when a roadside bomb hit a vehicle which was part of an ISAF convoy on patrol in the southern province of Uruzgan. 

- On 14th December, an Afghan civilian was wounded when a remote-controlled explosive device, targeted at an ISAF convoy, was detonated in the city of Kabul. 

There has been a further serious attack on education personnel. On 8th December, two female teachers were killed, along with their mother, grandmother and a male relative, when armed men broke into their home in Narang District, in the eastern province of Kunar. Another male relative was wounded. The Provincial Education Director stated, in response, that the two teachers had been warned, through a letter sent by the Taliban, to stop teaching. 

Government officials have been further targets. The specific incidents include the following: 
More on link


----------

