Afghanistan Analysts Network – English

Posts tagged: Suicide Bombing

Suicide Bombing

A ‘Georgian’ Jihad via Youtube? Afghanistan-related video sparks speculations

Diana Janse •

The Afghanistan link goes all the way to Georgia – not the US Georgia but the Caucasian Georgia, the post-Soviet republic independent since 1991. As the largest non-Nato contributor, the small country has been paying a heavy toll of lives on the battlefields of Helmand. Its participation to the Afghan mission is now being questioned […]

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On the borders: Where do the attacks in Nimruz come from?

Fabrizio Foschini •

The recent multiple suicide attacks that hit Zaranj, the capital of Nimruz province – with possibly one of the single biggest losses of lives in the Afghan conflict – received relatively small attention by the international media. Of course, both the global media and public are in a slack period regarding news from Afghanistan. The […]

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Another Wedding Party Massacre: The death of Ahmad Khan (amended)

Kate Clark •

Dozens of people have been killed and injured in a suicide attack on a wedding party in Samangan province. Among those killed was the father of the bride, the MP and former commander, Ahmad Khan Samangani, at least one of his sons and at least four other senior security and political officials. As this blog […]

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Reaction to the Kargha attack: start of a popular movement?

Gran Hewad •

A group of young Afghan men and women gathered in Kargha’s Spuzhmai Hotel on 28 June to commemorate and condemn the attack that took place during the night of 21/22 June in which a still unknown number of civilians were killed. An estimated hundred and fifty participants gathered at the site and offered prayers for […]

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The attack in Kargha: Return of the Taleban Puritans?

Thomas Ruttig •

In a rare night-time attack, Taleban gunmen stormed a popular lakeside resort. Kargha, in the outskirts of Kabul, with its ice cream parlours and pedalo boats is frequented by Afghans of all walks of life. Overnight on Thursday/Friday, the gunmen took a number of civilians hostage in the night to Friday. The action dragged on […]

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Ashura Attacks (3): A new type of violence in Afghanistan

Fabrizio Foschini •

One of the last taboos of violence in Afghanistan was broken by yesterday’s suicide attacks on the Ashura commemoration in Kabul and Mazar-e Sharif. Historically, sectarian tensions or conflicts have occasionally been seen in Afghanistan, but they have usually been stirred up and leveraged by politics or war. Sectarian hatred has never enjoyed public recognition […]

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Ashura Attacks 2: Flash from the Past, Ashura 2002 (amended)

Kate Clark •

The bombs which ripped through Ashura processions in Kabul and Mazar-e Sharif and likely targeted – futilely – a ceremony in Kandahar killed dozens, raising the spectre of sectarianism in Afghanistan. Every year since 2001, says Kate Clark, the Ashura ceremonies have become larger and more public as the Afghanistan’s Shi’a communities have grown in […]

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Ashura Attacks (1): Playing with Fire

Kate Clark •

Attacks have targeted Shi’as in two of Afghanistan’s major cities as they gathered for Ashura, to lament the martyrdom of Imam Hussein and members of his family in Iraq in 680 AD. The attack in Kabul was particularly serious and left dozens dead. Such violence is a new phenomenon, says Kate Clark, deeply troubling and […]

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How outside interference politicised the Achin land conflict

Fabrizio Foschini •

Reading the news in the morning sometimes brings big surprises. Even before a suicide car rammed into a US military convoy on Kabul’s Dar-ul-Aman road yesterday, causing the heaviest death toll among ISAF troops ever in the capital, the AAN office was already puzzled by another event: the latest bloody outcome of the years-old land […]

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Looking at the Azra Hospital Attack (amended)

Thomas Ruttig • Fabrizio Foschini •

The suicide car-bomb attack that destroyed the civilian hospital of Logar’s eastern-most district Azra on 25 June was terrible even for Afghan standards, with now [amended: 29] registered dead and 53 wounded. Amongst the victims were reportedly 15 children waiting for immunisation as well as five toddlers; the 10-bed maternity ward completely destroyed. But the […]

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When Rumour Replaces Logic – The Takhar Killing

Christopher Reuter •

When General Mohammed Daud Daud, the highest police officer of the northeast and commander of the Pamir region, was killed by a meticulously prepared bomb in the Takhar governor’s office on May 28th, one thing at least seemed to be clear: who was behind it – in particular after the Taleban proudly announced their responsibility. […]

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The Killing Continues – the Taloqan attack (Updated)

Martine van Bijlert •

The impact of yesterday’s suicide attack in Takhar, which killed the police commander of the northern zone General Daud and six others, is wide ranging. The international security forces and those counting on a smooth transition have lost an important partner. The Jamiat-based networks have lost a battlefield commander. The (northern) youth have lost a […]

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