2003-4 – EVENTS IN AFGHANISTAM
* Bagram Suicide Bombing ;
On 12/28/2003 noon, a suspect was arrested near Bagram air base North of Kabul, Afghanistan’s capital. When the man was transferred for interrogation by a senior official into Bagram air base he blew himself up with an explosive belt which he wore.
5 senior Afghan security officials were killed by the blast: Jalal – the Bureau Chief of the Afghan Defense minister and the leader of the Northern Alliance Muhammed Qassim Fahim, along with four bodyguards were killed in the blast. According to the Kabul chief of police the suicide bomber was a stranger but the claim was not confirmed (see also – Bagram Escape ).
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Afghan Civil Aviation Minister Mirwais Sadiq has been assassinated by gunmen, on 03/24/2004 in Herat province in North-West Afghanistan. Herat province is the stronghold of the Shiaa community in Afghanistan, and its leader Ismail Khan – the provincial governor. The Shiaa community has close ties to Iran. Slain Mirwais Sadiq is the son of Ismail Khan.
Reuters news agency says two police officers riding with the minister were also killed. A spokesman for the governor told Reuters that forces loyal to a senior government commander in the area were responsible for the attack and blamed the assassination on “personal rivalry”.
Western news reports say troops loyal to Governor Ismail Khan immediately surrounded a government militia barrack in the city of Herat and also laid siege to the commander’s home. In the clashes, which followed the assassination of Mirwais Sadiq, over 100 people were killed in Herat in fighting between militias.
In 02/2002, Mr. Sadiq’s predecessor, Abdul Rahman, was assassinated at Kabul’s main airport. Vice president Haji Abdul Qadir was shot dead in his Kabul office five months later(see – Herat 08.22.08 ).
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* U.S.A Embassy Bombing ;
The bombing came hours after another explosion killed at least nine people, eight of them children, at a school in Kandahar, Southeastern Afghanistan (see also – Kabul Parade ).
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