Suicide bomber kills three

Tue., May 18, 2010

Amir Shah Associated Press

Passenger jet disappears

SALANG PASS, Afghanistan – Dense fog hindered rescuers who fanned out across mountainous terrain on Monday to search for the wreckage of an Afghan passenger plane that vanished with 44 passengers on board.

The plane, operated by Pamir Airways was traveling from Kunduz in northern Afghanistan to the capital. Myar Rasooli, the head of Kabul airport, said air traffic controllers’ last contact with the plane was when it was about 55 miles north of Kabul. He said there was no distress call from the plane.

The British Embassy in Kabul confirmed that three British citizens were aboard the plane. One American also was aboard, according to a State Department official in Washington.

Associated Press

KABUL, Afghanistan – A suicide car bomber attacked the heavily fortified Afghan capital early today, killing at least three people, police said.

Initial reports of the explosion in western Kabul indicated that U.S. vehicles were targeted, said Abdul Ghafor Sayedzada, the chief of the city police’s criminal investigation unit. The area around the blast site is also home to Afghan government buildings.

An Associated Press reporter on the scene saw the wreckage of a public bus and four sport utility vehicles. The SUVs were painted white and gray but no markings identifying them as American were immediately discernable.

U.S. soldiers and Afghan police were working to secure the site as news trickled out of deaths and injuries.

At least 12 wounded people were evacuated to hospitals, said Mirza Mohammad, a doctor who was treating the injured.

Interior Ministry spokesman Zemeri Bashary said the blast was near the Afghan Ministry of Energy and Water.

A spate of attacks inside Kabul this year has led police to tighten security and officials have recently publicized arrests of would-be suicide bombers as proof that they are having success. Today’s bombing is a reminder that the city’s defenses are still permeable by determined attackers.

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Suicide bomber kills three

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