Afghan police: 8 die in Kabul supermarket blast
AMIR SHAH and HEIDI VOGT
The Associated Press
KABUL, Afghanistan - A suicide bomber killed eight people, including an unknown number of foreigners, inside a high-end grocery store on Friday in the heart of a heavily guarded district of the Afghan capital that's home to many diplomats and Westerners.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for what the attack, which it said was targeting an employee of the U.S. security contractor formerly known as Blackwater. The contractor said, however, that none of its employees were hurt in the afternoon bombing, which occurred in a district long regarded as one of the safest in the city.
The victims' bodies were so disfigured that authorities were still trying to identify them late Friday night.
The U.S. Embassy in Kabul said initial reports that there were two Americans among those killed were premature. The U.S. was working with its Afghan partners to confirm whether any Americans were killed, said embassy spokeswoman said Caitlin Hayden.
Deputy Kabul Police Chief Daud Amin said those killed included two Afghan women, a male Afghan child and two or three foreigners. He said the other two victims had not been identified.
Fifteen people were wounded in the blast, including a Briton, a Canadian and three Filipinos, Amin said.
Earlier in the day, Mohammad Zahir, the chief of criminal investigation for the Kabul police, had said five foreigners , a man and four women , had been killed. He said an Afghan child was among the other three victims.
Ahmad Zaki, another criminal investigator, said the suicide bomber threw at least one grenade and fired shots, prompting customers to run to another area of the store, known as Finest.
"Then he blew himself up," Zaki said.
The explosion ignited a small fire in the frozen food section and filled the main floor of the two-story store with smoke.
"To my left, I heard a gunshot. A bomb went off. Everyone was running to the back of the building," said Mary Hayden, a Western consultant who was inside the story.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai said the "enemies of Afghanistan are so desperate that they are now killing civilians, including women, inside a food market."
The U.S. Embassy in Kabul condemned what it described as a "senseless act."
"By attacking a peaceful place of commerce, insurgents have once again demonstrated their lack of respect for the safety of the Afghan people," the embassy said.
In a text message sent to reporters, Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid wrote: "It was an attack on the chief of Blackwater."
Later, in a message posted on the Internet, the spokesman said that a suicide bomber named Attaullah from Kabul province first targeted Blackwater employees with a machine gun and later detonated his explosive belt.
"Preliminary reports indicate that the successful attack resulted in the killing of a senior Blackwater official with a number of agent army soldiers, and wounded many others," the statement said, according to a translation by SITE Intelligence Group, a U.S.-based organization that tracks militant websites.
Blackwater Worldwide, which is based in North Carolina and is now called Xe Services, is one of many private security companies that are disliked by many Afghans because they appear to operate with impunity. Karzai, who has moved to ban many of the guns-for-hire, has complained for years that many private guards commit human rights abuses, pay protection money to the Taliban and undercut the country's national security forces by offering higher wages and better living conditions.
Harry Clark, an adviser to new Xe owner USTC Holdings, said several Xe personnel were near the site of the suicide attack, but that no one associated with the company was killed or injured.
The store was full of foreign customers, according to Moujib, a 14-year-old Afghan boy who uses just one name.
"I was on the first floor and we heard a boom," he said, crying and clinging to his mother. "I might have heard some shooting. Then I saw fire everywhere."
Yama, an Afghan man who sells phone cards at a traffic circle just outside the store, said he and other sellers then rushed inside to help wounded and dazed customers from the store.
"They were looking around like they didn't know what had happened," he said.
Kabul has witnessed a number of suicide attacks in recent years.
In July 2008, a suicide car bomb blew up outside the gates of the Indian Embassy in Kabul, killing more than 60 people.
AMIR SHAH and HEIDI VOGT
The Associated Press
KABUL, Afghanistan - A suicide bomber killed eight people, including an unknown number of foreigners, inside a high-end grocery store on Friday in the heart of a heavily guarded district of the Afghan capital that's home to many diplomats and Westerners.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for what the attack, which it said was targeting an employee of the U.S. security contractor formerly known as Blackwater. The contractor said, however, that none of its employees were hurt in the afternoon bombing, which occurred in a district long regarded as one of the safest in the city.
The victims' bodies were so disfigured that authorities were still trying to identify them late Friday night.
The U.S. Embassy in Kabul said initial reports that there were two Americans among those killed were premature. The U.S. was working with its Afghan partners to confirm whether any Americans were killed, said embassy spokeswoman said Caitlin Hayden.
Deputy Kabul Police Chief Daud Amin said those killed included two Afghan women, a male Afghan child and two or three foreigners. He said the other two victims had not been identified.
Fifteen people were wounded in the blast, including a Briton, a Canadian and three Filipinos, Amin said.
Earlier in the day, Mohammad Zahir, the chief of criminal investigation for the Kabul police, had said five foreigners , a man and four women , had been killed. He said an Afghan child was among the other three victims.
Ahmad Zaki, another criminal investigator, said the suicide bomber threw at least one grenade and fired shots, prompting customers to run to another area of the store, known as Finest.
"Then he blew himself up," Zaki said.
The explosion ignited a small fire in the frozen food section and filled the main floor of the two-story store with smoke.
"To my left, I heard a gunshot. A bomb went off. Everyone was running to the back of the building," said Mary Hayden, a Western consultant who was inside the story.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai said the "enemies of Afghanistan are so desperate that they are now killing civilians, including women, inside a food market."
The U.S. Embassy in Kabul condemned what it described as a "senseless act."
"By attacking a peaceful place of commerce, insurgents have once again demonstrated their lack of respect for the safety of the Afghan people," the embassy said.
In a text message sent to reporters, Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid wrote: "It was an attack on the chief of Blackwater."
Later, in a message posted on the Internet, the spokesman said that a suicide bomber named Attaullah from Kabul province first targeted Blackwater employees with a machine gun and later detonated his explosive belt.
"Preliminary reports indicate that the successful attack resulted in the killing of a senior Blackwater official with a number of agent army soldiers, and wounded many others," the statement said, according to a translation by SITE Intelligence Group, a U.S.-based organization that tracks militant websites.
Blackwater Worldwide, which is based in North Carolina and is now called Xe Services, is one of many private security companies that are disliked by many Afghans because they appear to operate with impunity. Karzai, who has moved to ban many of the guns-for-hire, has complained for years that many private guards commit human rights abuses, pay protection money to the Taliban and undercut the country's national security forces by offering higher wages and better living conditions.
Harry Clark, an adviser to new Xe owner USTC Holdings, said several Xe personnel were near the site of the suicide attack, but that no one associated with the company was killed or injured.
The store was full of foreign customers, according to Moujib, a 14-year-old Afghan boy who uses just one name.
"I was on the first floor and we heard a boom," he said, crying and clinging to his mother. "I might have heard some shooting. Then I saw fire everywhere."
Yama, an Afghan man who sells phone cards at a traffic circle just outside the store, said he and other sellers then rushed inside to help wounded and dazed customers from the store.
"They were looking around like they didn't know what had happened," he said.
Kabul has witnessed a number of suicide attacks in recent years.
In July 2008, a suicide car bomb blew up outside the gates of the Indian Embassy in Kabul, killing more than 60 people.
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