Suicide attack in Afghanistan

Tuesday February 20, 2007 (1509 PST)

Khost: Suicide attack in Khost, 3 including two NATO soliders wounded; whereas in the inset Allied Forces' personel were searching a house in Khost, Afghanistan. Email Most Popular Print Add to Favorite Related Links Taliban claim shooting down coalition chopper Taliban execute three people in Helmand Taliban warned to quit town as residents flee British troops clear Taliban base at major Afghan hydropower dam Investigators link suicide bombings to Taliban More Related News >>  Pictorial ,  No of Pictures: 3  Cartoons , No of Cartoons: 2

Afghanistan:  In Khost the provincial city of Afghanistan, two NATO soldiers including a hospital staffer were injured in a suicidal attack on Tuesday.

A suicide attacker, who disguised as a health worker blew himself up at an opening ceremony of a hospital in the city of Khost. The attacker was blocked by the Afghan security forces from approaching a crowd of people who had gathered for a ribbon-cutting ceremony to open an emergency ward at the main government hospital in the city of Khost.

U.S. troops who took the man away shot him in the leg when he tried to escape. As the crowd took cover, the attacker blew himself up as a result 2 American soldiers and an Afghan hospital staffer were wounded, reports said.

However, a spokesman of the NATO forces said that a number of NATO troops were wounded in the blast, but the extent of their injuries was not immediately known. He did not give their nationalities.

Most of the NATO forces in eastern Afghanistan are American.

Afghan Provincial Police Chief, Gen. Mohammad Ayub told mediamen that the bomber was wearing a white coat of the same type used by doctors in the hospital and had possibly stayed the night inside the facility before launching his attack.

It is pertinent to note here that Taliban launched about 140 suicide attacks last year, targeting foreign as well as Afghan forces and officials of the Karzai regime.