A suicide bomber killed eight American civilians at a U.S. military
base in eastern Afghanistan Wednesday, while another bomb killed four
Canadian soldiers and a journalist in the south of the country.
U.S. officials say a bomber detonated his explosive vest inside the
Forward Operating Base Chapman in Khost province. The military said no
U.S. or NATO troops were killed or wounded in the blast, but few other
details about the incident were released.
The base is used to support reconstruction efforts and other civilian operations in Afghanistan.
Khost borders Pakistan's North Waziristan tribal region, where Taliban militants and their allies launch cross-border attacks.
In a separate attack, the Canadian defense ministry says four Canadian
soldiers and a Canadian journalist were killed Wednesday when their
convoy hit a roadside bomb while on patrol just outside the southern
city of Kandahar.
The journalist was identified as 34-year-old Calgary Herald reporter Michelle Lang. A Canadian civilian official was wounded in the blast.
The Canadian newspaper says Lang is the is the first Canadian
journalist to die in the Afghan war since Canada joined the
international mission in 2002.
In other news, a spokesman for international troops in Afghanistan says
NATO so far has no direct evidence to back up Afghan government claims
that foreign troops killed 10 civilians in eastern Afghanistan on
Sunday.
Colonel Wayne Shanks told reporters Wednesday that NATO has requested an immediate joint investigation into the incident.
Afghan government investigators earlier concluded that foreign troops
killed civilians -- including school children -- during Sunday's
operation in the Narang district of Kunar province.
NATO released a statement Wednesday saying its forces were targeting
insurgents when troops came under fire. The alliance says nine people
were killed when NATO forces returned fire.
Hundreds of university students took to the streets in Kabul and in the
eastern city of Jalalabad Wednesday to protest the killings.