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Lethal blast misses Cheney at US Afghan base
A Taliban suicide bomber killed up to 23 people, including two soldiers, outside a US military base in Afghanistan during a visit by Dick Cheney today.
The Taliban said it was responsible for the explosion, at the entrance to the Bagram base, which it said had targeted the US vice-president.
Mr Cheney is in Afghanistan for talks with the president, Hamid Karzai, about how to tackle the increasing violence in the country.
Speaking to reporters after leaving Afghanistan on a military plane, the US vice president said he had heard a "loud boom" and was briefly moved to a bomb shelter.
"They clearly try to find ways to question the authority of the central government," he said. "Striking at Bagram with a suicide bomber, I suppose, is one way to do that."
Colonel Tom Collins, a Nato spokesman, said the bomber had run through an Afghan police checkpoint at the outer perimeter of the base before detonating his explosives in a crowd of people.
Mr Cheney met Mr Karzai in the capital, Kabul, around two hours after the bombing.
There were conflicting reports on the death toll. Mr Karzai's office said 23 people, including 20 Afghan workers at the base, had been killed and another 20 people injured.
A statement from NATO's International Security Assistance Force said initial indications were that three people, including a US soldier, an American contractor and a South Korean soldier, had been killed.
Qari Yousef Ahmadi, a purported Taliban spokesman, confirmed that Mr Cheney had been the target of the attack, which he said had been carried out by Mullah Abdul Rahim.
"We knew that Dick Cheney would be staying inside the base," Mr Ahmadi told the Associated Press.
US Major William Mitchell questioned that claim, pointing out that Mr Cheney's overnight stay had happened only after a meeting with Mr Karzai was cancelled because of bad weather.
"I think it's a far-fetched allegation," he said. "The vice president wasn't even supposed to be here overnight, so this would have been a surprise to everybody."
The explosion happened near the first of at least three gated checkpoints through which vehicles must pass before gaining access to Bagram.
The sprawling base houses 5,100 US troops and 4,000 other forces and contractors. High security areas within the base are blocked by their own checkpoints.
More
http://www.guardian.co.uk/afghanistan/story/0,,2022307,00.html
Mr Cheney is in Afghanistan for talks with the president, Hamid Karzai, about how to tackle the increasing violence in the country.
Speaking to reporters after leaving Afghanistan on a military plane, the US vice president said he had heard a "loud boom" and was briefly moved to a bomb shelter.
"They clearly try to find ways to question the authority of the central government," he said. "Striking at Bagram with a suicide bomber, I suppose, is one way to do that."
Colonel Tom Collins, a Nato spokesman, said the bomber had run through an Afghan police checkpoint at the outer perimeter of the base before detonating his explosives in a crowd of people.
Mr Cheney met Mr Karzai in the capital, Kabul, around two hours after the bombing.
There were conflicting reports on the death toll. Mr Karzai's office said 23 people, including 20 Afghan workers at the base, had been killed and another 20 people injured.
A statement from NATO's International Security Assistance Force said initial indications were that three people, including a US soldier, an American contractor and a South Korean soldier, had been killed.
Qari Yousef Ahmadi, a purported Taliban spokesman, confirmed that Mr Cheney had been the target of the attack, which he said had been carried out by Mullah Abdul Rahim.
"We knew that Dick Cheney would be staying inside the base," Mr Ahmadi told the Associated Press.
US Major William Mitchell questioned that claim, pointing out that Mr Cheney's overnight stay had happened only after a meeting with Mr Karzai was cancelled because of bad weather.
"I think it's a far-fetched allegation," he said. "The vice president wasn't even supposed to be here overnight, so this would have been a surprise to everybody."
The explosion happened near the first of at least three gated checkpoints through which vehicles must pass before gaining access to Bagram.
The sprawling base houses 5,100 US troops and 4,000 other forces and contractors. High security areas within the base are blocked by their own checkpoints.
More
http://www.guardian.co.uk/afghanistan/story/0,,2022307,00.html
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The blast happened outside the base at Bagram, north of the capital Kabul. Cheney's spokeswoman said he was fine, and the US Embassy said the vice president later met with President Hamid Karzai in Kabul.
There were conflicting reports on the death toll. Provincial Gov. Abdul Jabar Taqwa said 20 people were killed, but Nato said initial reports indicated only three were killed, including a US soldier, a South Korean coalition soldier and a US government contractor whose nationality wasn't immediately known. Nato said 27 people were also wounded.
It was unclear why there was such a large discrepancy in the reports.
Associated Press reporters at the scene said they had seen at least eight bodies in black body bags and wooden coffins being carried from the base area to the market, where hundreds of Afghans had gathered to mourn.
Maj. William Mitchell said it did not appear the explosion was intended as a threat to the vice president. "He wasn't near the site of the explosion," Mitchell said. "He was safely within the base at the time of the explosion."
A purported Taliban spokesman, Qari Yousef Ahmadi, said Cheney was the target of the attack, which Ahmadi said was carried out by an Afghan, Mullah Abdul Rahim from Logar province.
"We knew that Dick Cheney would be staying inside the base," Ahmadi told AP telephone from an undisclosed location. "The attacker was trying to reach Cheney."
The explosion happened near the first of at least three gated checkpoints vehicles must pass through before gaining access to Bagram, meaning the attacker did not get near Cheney's location.
More
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia/article2308475.ece
Mr Cheney, who was unharmed, was staying at the Bagram base near Kabul.
The US military said the bomber was also killed. Some reports say 14 people died - more than 20 others were hurt.
The Taleban said they carried out the attack and that the attacker was trying to get to Mr Cheney, who was on an unannounced visit to the region.
More
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6399527.stm