8 Americans die in suicide blast in Afghanistan

[haldir]

Dec 30 04:02 PM US/Eastern
By DEB RIECHMANN
Associated Press Writer
KABUL (AP) - At least eight Americans died Wednesday in a suicide bombing at a military base in eastern Afghanistan, U.S. officials said. Conflicting reports were reaching the Pentagon on whether the victims were civilian or military in the bombing at Forward Operating Base Chapman in Khost province near the border with Pakistan.
The deaths were confirmed late Wednesday by a U.S. official in the Afghan capital, Kabul.

A senior U.S. official in Washington said the Americans were killed by an attacker wearing a suicide vest.

Another senior U.S. official in Washington said there were conflicting reports on the number of casualties, and that other people were wounded in the attack.

Wazir Pacha, a police spokesman in Khost province, said local people reported hearing a blast on the base.

Soon afterward, two helicopters landed, a police officer in Khost said.

All the U.S. officials spoke on condition of anonymity because not all details about the incident had been confirmed.

 

[haldir]

Prayers for all of our service personnel.

 

[doglb]

I love my brothers and sisters abroad, but this is just getting out of hand. I get a sick feeling in my stomach everytime I hear these stories. I am just tired of loosing our young men and women overseas.

My prayers go out to there love ones!
But when is this pain going to stop?

 

[KPierce]

So sad to hear. Prayers to the families of the fallen ones.

 

[SigSense]

RIP....

 

[LCPer]

I thank them for their ultimate sacrifice for all of us. Remember To pray for their families and the buddies fighting the battle for FREEDOM!

 

[ATF Consumer]

Very sad to see this kind of thing...

As long as we have service members over there, this type of thing is only going to continue.
I see the attempt to rid the world of terrorism is a battle that cannot be won....at least with the methods that are currently being used.

 

[irishfan]

RIP for the victims and prayers for the families left behind.

I have no idea how we can really hope to defeat people who attack us this way without going way beyond the measures we take to prevent civilian casualties. There comes a time that you have to make the decision if you are going to fight to win or fight to look like a winner. I fear that we are going to continue with these type of tactics until somebody has the capability of making the hard decision that needs to be made.

 

[Blue Tile Spook]

From Drudge and FOX, these weren't service personnel, they were CIA.

 

[haldir]

8 Americans, 5 Canadians dead in Afghan attacks
Dec 31 12:59 AM US/Eastern
By DEB RIECHMANN
Associated Press Writer
KABUL (AP) - A suicide bomber at a base in Afghanistan's volatile east killed eight American civilians, U.S. officials said, the worst loss of life for Americans in the country since October. Four Canadian soldiers and a journalist were killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan's south, NATO said.
U.S. officials in Washington said the suicide attacker detonated explosives Wednesday at Forward Operating Base Chapman in Khost province near the Afghan border with Pakistan, killing eight American civilians. A congressional official said CIA employees were believed to be among the dead.

"We mourn the loss of life in this attack, and are withholding further details pending notification of next of kin," U.S. State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said.

An attacker wearing a suicide vest caused the explosion, according to a senior U.S. official in Washington. Another senior U.S. official in Washington said there were conflicting reports on the number of casualties, but that others were injured in the attack.

A senior State Department official said all of the victims were civilians. A former senior CIA officer who was stationed at the base said a combination of agency officers and contractors operated out of the remote outpost with the military and other agencies. He said contractors also might be among those who died.

The CIA has not commented or confirmed any deaths.

All the officials in Washignton spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter with the media.

NATO said only that the base is used by provincial reconstruction teams, which consist of both soldiers and civilians, and other personnel.

In Kabul, a spokesman for the international coalition force in Kabul said no U.S. or NATO troops were killed in the afternoon explosion. The attack was the bloodiest day for Americans since eight soldiers were killed in an insurgent attack on a base in eastern Afghanistan on Oct. 3.

In the south, NATO said that the four Canadian troops and a reporter embedded with their unit died when their armored vehicle hit a bomb while on an afternoon patrol south of Kandahar city. It's the third deadliest day for Canadians in Afghanistan since the war began.

Michelle Lang, a 34-year-old health reporter with the Calgary Herald, was the first Canadian journalist to die in Afghanistan. Lang arrived in Afghanistan just two weeks ago and on Wednesday she made her first trip beyond the safe confines of Canada's base on Kandahar Airfield.

"She was one of those journalists who always wanted to get to the bottom of every story so this was an important trip for her," said her Calgary Herald colleague, Colette Derworiz.

The military has not disclosed the names of the Canadian troops because relatives had not all been notified.

"We are all very saddened to hear this tragic news," Alberta Health and Wellness Minister Ron Liepert said in a statement. "Michelle covered health issues with professionalism, accuracy and thoroughness. She was tenacious in her quest to inform Albertans, and for her diligence she was very well respected."

Brig. Gen. Daniel Menard, commander of coalition forces in Kandahar, said that the soldiers were conducting a community security patrol in order to gather information about daily life in the area and how to maintain security.

Wednesday was the second lethal strike against the Canadian force in a week. One Canadian soldier and an Afghan soldier were killed Dec. 23 during a foot patrol in Panjwayi district of Kandahar province. According to figures compiled by The Associated Press, the latest casualties bring to 32 the number of Canadian forces killed in Afghanistan this year; in all, 138 have died in the war.

Separately on Wednesday, NATO questioned Afghan reports that international troops killed 10 civilians, including schoolchildren, in a weekend attack that prompted hundreds of angry Afghan protesters to burn an effigy of U.S. President Barack Obama and chant "death" to America.

The head of an investigative team appointed by Afghan President Hamid Karzai told The Associated Press by telephone that eight students between the ages of 12 and 14 were among the dead discovered in a village house in a remote section of Kunar province in eastern Afghanistan. NATO said in a statement released late Wednesday night that while there was no direct evidence to substantiate the claims, the international force had requested and welcomed a joint investigation to reach an "impartial and accurate determination" of what happened in the attack.

Conflicting accounts of what occurred during fighting in Kunar's Narang district prompted an emotional outcry over civilian deaths, one of the most sensitive issues for international troops fighting the more than eight-year-old war. Although insurgents are responsible for the deaths of far more civilians, those blamed on coalition forces spark the most resentment and undermine the fight against militants. With 37,000 more U.S. and NATO troops being deployed to the battle zone, concern over civilian casualties is unlikely to ease anytime soon.

Several hundred Afghans demonstrated in the capital of Kabul and in the eastern city of Jalalabad where the likeness of Obama, adorned with a small American flag, burned on a pole held above demonstrators.

 

[irishfan]

I don't care if they were soldiers or girl scouts because they were Americans. I am tired of seeing the loss of any American lives due to these people.

 

[CarmelHP]

I do have to give these a**h***s some credit for spotting weak spots.


AP sources: Suicide bomber invited on base



By PAMELA HESS and ADAM GOLDMAN, Associated Press Writers Pamela Hess And Adam Goldman, Associated Press Writers – 11 mins ago
WASHINGTON – The suicide bomber who killed seven CIA employees at a remote outpost in southeastern Afghanistan had been invited onto the base and had not been searched, two former U.S. officials told The Associated Press on Thursday
A former senior intelligence official says the man was being courted as an informant and that it was the first time he had been brought inside the camp. An experienced CIA debriefer came from Kabul for the meeting, suggesting that the purpose was to gain intelligence, the official said.
The former intelligence official and another former official with knowledge of the attack spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
The CIA would not confirm the details, and said it was still gathering evidence on the incident.
"It's far too early to draw conclusions about something that happened just yesterday," said spokesman George Little.
A separate U.S. official suggested the bomber may have set off the explosives as he was about to be searched.
The bombing on Wednesday dealt a blow to the tight-knit spy agency. Among those killed was the chief of the CIA post, whom former officials identified as a mother of three. Six more agency personnel were wounded in what was considered the most lethal attack for the CIA since the war in Afghanistan began in 2001 and possibly even since the 1983 embassy bombing in Beirut.
It also was the single deadliest attack for Americans in Afghanistan since eight soldiers were killed in an insurgent attack on a base in the east on Oct. 3.
President Barack Obama and CIA Director Leon Panetta were joined by several leading lawmakers on Thursday in praising agency employees for their work.
"Those who fell yesterday were far from home and close to the enemy, doing the hard work that must be done to protect our country from terrorism," Panetta said in a statement confirming the deaths. "We owe them our deepest gratitude, and we pledge to them and their families that we will never cease fighting for the cause to which they dedicated their lives — a safer America."
In a letter to CIA employees, Obama said their fallen colleagues came from a "long line of patriots" who had helped to keep the nation safe despite grave risks.
Obama acknowledged that the spy agency has been tested "as never before" since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
The CIA did not release information about the victims, citing the sensitivity of their mission and other ongoing operations.
According to one former agency employee, the death toll represents a significant portion of the CIA's clandestine force in the region, but that many of the agency's employees have experience in Afghanistan.
"The bench is deeper in Afghanistan than it is anywhere in the world," the former employee said.
The bigger question for CIA operations will probably be whether the agency moves to tighten safety rules for its employees, the former employee said.
The incident occurred at a former military base on the edge of Khost city, the capital of Khost province which borders Pakistan and is a Taliban stronghold.
The Taliban claimed responsibility.
Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said in a statement that an Afghan National Army officer wearing a suicide vest entered the base and blew himself up inside the gym. A U.S. official briefed on the blast also said it took place in the gym.
Forward Operating Base Chapman used to be a military facility base but was later turned into a CIA base, according to a U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly.
Some military men and women work there on a Provincial Reconstruction Team, one of several civilian-military units that secure and develop areas of Afghanistan. A NATO spokesman said other personnel operate from Chapman as well, but he said he could not elaborate.
Only four known CIA operatives have been killed in Afghanistan since the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the U.S.
CIA officer Micheal "Mike" Spann was killed in a prison uprising in November 2001. An agency officer died in a training exercise in 2003, and two contractors operating out of a CIA base in Shkin district of Paktika province were killed the same year.

 

[Blue Tile Spook]

I don't care if they were soldiers or girl scouts because they were Americans. I am tired of seeing the loss of any American lives due to these people.

I, too, am sorry to see Americans lose their lives. Simply correcting the misconception stemming from early news stories that made it sound as if those killed were military.

 

[IDCC]

RIP. I just started reading the Hunt for bin laden two days ago. It has some BS in it but combined with other excellent books on OEF you can get a feel for the mindset of our opposition.