Taliban threaten more attacks

KABUL: The Taliban warned on Monday of further deadly attacks in the run-up to Afghanistan’s first presidential election after a car bomb in the heart of the capital killed at least 12 people and injured dozens more.

Three Americans and three Nepalis were among those killed in the blast, aimed at the offices of international security company DynCorp, which provides bodyguards for Afghan president Hamid Karzai and also helps train the national police force.

Sunday’s attack came less than 24 hours after another blast killed 10 people, including nine children, at a religious school in Paktia province, south of Kabul.

A senior Taliban commander said any city with a Western presence could be a target ahead of the Oct 9 elections, which US ally Karzai is widely expected to win.

“We have started our operations from Kabul under new planning and preparation,” said commander Mullah Daudullah, one of the ten members of the Taliban council headed by Mullah Omar, an ally of Osama Bin Laden. “We will carry out more attacks and bombings in Kabul and many of our mujahideen are present in cities where the occupying forces of infidels are present,” he told the news agency by satellite telephone.

Bodies buried: Major Scott Nelson at the US military press centre in Kabul said emergency services were still looking for bodies buried under the rubble of the DynCorp building.

NATO-led peacekeepers cordoned off the site, and Federal Bureau of Investigation officers based at the US embassy are leading the investigation. The Taliban denied responsibility for Saturday’s school blast.

US spokesman Nelson said an improvised explosive device had been planted in the school and that the local authorities reported the academy’s director went missing two days ago and they suspect he had been murdered. agencies

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