80 Killed in Afghan Bombing

Taliban claims responsibility for car bomb, gun, grenade attack

(AP) - Eight American troops died in attacks in southern Afghanistan in the last 24 hours, including a car bombing and gunfight outside a police compound in Kandahar. In that attack, a suicide attacker slammed a car bomb into the gate of the headquarters of the elite Afghan National Civil Order Police. Minutes later, insurgents opened fire with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades. Three US troops, an Afghan policeman, and five civilians were killed. More»

(NEWSER) - Gunmen launched coordinated suicide attacks on three government buildings in Afghanistan’s capital today, killing at least 19 and injuring more than 50, the BBC reports. Attackers armed with AK-47s, grenades, and in some cases explosive vests hit the prison directorate and the justice and education ministries. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the assaults, saying they were in response to the treatment of Taliban prisoners. More»

Taliban finds success recruiting uneducated men with few options

(NEWSER) - One says he wanted to kill himself anyway. Another says he was duped. Both were captured in failed suicide bombings in Afghanistan, where such attacks were unheard of until the last 2 years, denounced by village elders as cowardly and un-Islamic. Now, these bombings are at all-time highs as the Taliban recruits poor, uneducated men and boys in Pakistani religious schools. The Wall Street Journal looks at how the trend is helping turn the tide against NATO forces. More»

'Asymmetrical' warfare has casualties down, hopes of prevailing up

(NEWSER) - The Taliban might hope Sunday's brazen attack on Afghan president Hamid Karzai signaled a new age of potency for the rebels. But although deaths from Taliban violence are on the rise, the Economist argues, the organization has not grown substantially—it has shifted its strategy away from conventional firefights to the “asymmetrical” warfare used by militants in Iraq and Israel. More»

Attack precedes Canada's vote on unpopular operation

(NEWSER) - A suicide attack on a Canadian convoy in Afghanistan killed a civilian, injured at least one soldier, and set ablaze a nearby home less than half a mile from the Canadian base of operations in Kandahar. The Taliban took credit for the attack, which comes just as Canada is about to debate whether or not to stick with the operation, widely opposed by the Canadian public. More»