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06-02-2010, 06:26 PM
Suicide Squad Targets Afghan Peace Meeting
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12:13pm UK, Wednesday June 02, 2010
Carole Erskine, Sky News Online
A Taliban suicide squad has attempted to disrupt a landmark Afghan peace conference trying to find a consensus on how to end nearly nine years of war.
http://news.sky.com/sky-news/content/StaticFile/jpg/2010/Jun/Week1/15642022.jpg The attack took place as President Hamid Karzai addressed the conference
As [URL="http://indepth.news.sky.com/InDepth/topic/Hamid_Karzai"]Afghan president Hamid Karzai (http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Afghanistan-Taliban-Attempt-To-Stop-Peace-Conference-With-Suicide-Bombers-And-Rockets/Article/201006115642027?lpos=World_News_First_Home_Article _Teaser_Region_6&lid=ARTICLE_15642027_Afghanistan%3A_Tali#comments) delivered his opening address to 1,600 delegates and Western diplomats at the "peace jirga", explosions and gunfire erupted.
Officials said suicide bombers wearing explosives-packed vests and dressed in women's burqas tried to target the event being hosted in a giant tent in Kabul.
"Two attackers aged between 17 and 20 years had managed to come to the area using burqas and had entered a house under contruction," interior ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashery said.
"One of them was killed on the first floor and the second on the third floor."
He said a third potential suicide attacker had been taken into custody.
At least five explosions, believed to be caused by rockets, erupted near the tent and one of the suicide bombers reportedly detonated explosives nearby.
http://news.sky.com/sky-news/content/StaticFile/jpg/2010/Jun/Week1/15642026.jpg Afghan tribal elders are among those attending the conference
The Taliban claimed it had dispatched four suicide bombers with guns and rockets.
The attack happened while President Karzai was condemning the Taliban for bringing suffering and oppression.
During his address he appealed to delegates to advise him on how to bring the country, blighted by three decades of war, out of the latest conflict and encourage the Taliban to disarm.
"We need a national consultation, a peace consultation all over Afghanistan," Mr Karzai said.
"The Afghan nation is looking at you. They await your decisions, your advice so that you can show the Afghan nation the way to reach peace, to rescue Afghanistan from this suffering and pain."
Mr Karzai left the conference on schedule after his address, driven away in his customary armoured convoy.
The Taliban's nine-year insurgency against Mr Karzai's government and 130,000 US-led foreign troops is now at its deadliest.
Last month the group vowed to unleash a new campaign of attacks on diplomats, lawmakers and foreign forces.
The militant group - which is opposed to peace talks until the US-led troops leave Afghanistan - had dismissed the conference as a propaganda stunt.
Bookmark the story
Suicide Squad Targets Afghan Peace Meeting
The leader is well corrupt ! but a peace meeting?
[/URL]
12:13pm UK, Wednesday June 02, 2010
Carole Erskine, Sky News Online
A Taliban suicide squad has attempted to disrupt a landmark Afghan peace conference trying to find a consensus on how to end nearly nine years of war.
http://news.sky.com/sky-news/content/StaticFile/jpg/2010/Jun/Week1/15642022.jpg The attack took place as President Hamid Karzai addressed the conference
As [URL="http://indepth.news.sky.com/InDepth/topic/Hamid_Karzai"]Afghan president Hamid Karzai (http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Afghanistan-Taliban-Attempt-To-Stop-Peace-Conference-With-Suicide-Bombers-And-Rockets/Article/201006115642027?lpos=World_News_First_Home_Article _Teaser_Region_6&lid=ARTICLE_15642027_Afghanistan%3A_Tali#comments) delivered his opening address to 1,600 delegates and Western diplomats at the "peace jirga", explosions and gunfire erupted.
Officials said suicide bombers wearing explosives-packed vests and dressed in women's burqas tried to target the event being hosted in a giant tent in Kabul.
"Two attackers aged between 17 and 20 years had managed to come to the area using burqas and had entered a house under contruction," interior ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashery said.
"One of them was killed on the first floor and the second on the third floor."
He said a third potential suicide attacker had been taken into custody.
At least five explosions, believed to be caused by rockets, erupted near the tent and one of the suicide bombers reportedly detonated explosives nearby.
http://news.sky.com/sky-news/content/StaticFile/jpg/2010/Jun/Week1/15642026.jpg Afghan tribal elders are among those attending the conference
The Taliban claimed it had dispatched four suicide bombers with guns and rockets.
The attack happened while President Karzai was condemning the Taliban for bringing suffering and oppression.
During his address he appealed to delegates to advise him on how to bring the country, blighted by three decades of war, out of the latest conflict and encourage the Taliban to disarm.
"We need a national consultation, a peace consultation all over Afghanistan," Mr Karzai said.
"The Afghan nation is looking at you. They await your decisions, your advice so that you can show the Afghan nation the way to reach peace, to rescue Afghanistan from this suffering and pain."
Mr Karzai left the conference on schedule after his address, driven away in his customary armoured convoy.
The Taliban's nine-year insurgency against Mr Karzai's government and 130,000 US-led foreign troops is now at its deadliest.
Last month the group vowed to unleash a new campaign of attacks on diplomats, lawmakers and foreign forces.
The militant group - which is opposed to peace talks until the US-led troops leave Afghanistan - had dismissed the conference as a propaganda stunt.
Bookmark the story
Suicide Squad Targets Afghan Peace Meeting
The leader is well corrupt ! but a peace meeting?