Eleven Afghan construction workers died and 30 were wounded after a roadside bomb hit their truck in the southern province of Kandahar. The blast took place in Panjhwayee district as the construction crew were on their way to work, said Sher Shah Yousifzai, a senior police official in the province.
"These frequent, indiscriminate and brutal attacks that kill innocent Afghans are signs of the insurgents' desperate attempt to remain relevant," said Rear Admiral Vic Beck, public affairs director for Nato in Afghanistan. President Hamid Karzai said the perpetrators committed a "great crime" by killing innocent workers who were trying to earn a livelihood. No group claimed responsibility for the attack.
Meanwhile, a suicide bomber was shot and wounded in Kabul as he was trying to crash his explosive-laden vehicle into a police convoy, which included the country's deputy intelligence chief, Ahmad Zia. A Nato aircraft crashed in western Afghanistan Tuesday, but there were no casualties, the alliance said. The reason for the crash was unknown, and the military did not rule out the possibility of hostile fire by insurgents.
Karzai and Nato Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen on Tuesday called on Taliban insurgents to join a peace process. "My message to the enemies of Afghanistan is clear: If you continue on the route of violence you will find no victory, only defeat," Rasmussen said. After the May 2 killing of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in Pakistan by US forces, the time has come for the Taliban to join the peace process, the Nato chief said.
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