DTN News: Afghanistan Top Stories / Headlines News Dated December 25, 2011
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - December 25, 2011: Comprehensive daily news related to Afghanistanfor the world of TODAY.
*Comprehensive daily news related to Afghanistan Top Stories / Headlines News for the world of TODAY.
25 Killed By Suicide Bomber In Taluqan City, Capital Of Takhar Province
*Suicide Bomber Strikes Funeral in Northern Afghanistan
A suicide bomber struck a funeral in northern Afghanistan on Sunday, killing at least 20 people, a government spokesman said, in what appeared to be the Taliban’s latest strike against Afghans who have ties to the national government.
Among those killed in the bombing, which occurred in Takhar Province in northern Afghanistan, was a member of Parliament, Abdul Mutaleb Baik, as well as member of the provincial council, according to a spokesman for the provincial government. A number of Afghan intelligence agents and lower-level government officials were also thought to be among the dead.
The bombing took place shortly after 2 p.m. in the village of Begabad, with the attacker wading into a crowd of mourners and detonating the explosives, said the spokesman, Muhammad Tauhidi. Mr. Tauhidi put the death toll at 30, while the Interior Ministry said that more than 20 had been killed.
A number of officials and elders were attending the funeral, which was for the father of the chief of the provincial fire department, said Mualavi Muhammadullah Wursaji, the head of Takhar’s provincial council.
Neither the Taliban nor any of Afghanistan’s other insurgent groups immediately claimed responsibility for the bombing. But suspicion quickly fell on the Taliban or its allies, who often target Afghan government officials and people close to them. In September, a suicide bomber, also believed to be a Taliban insurgent, killed Burhanuddin Rabbani, the leader of Afghanistan’s High Peace Council and a former president.
