Sad deal, and the point to bring up in this story, is booby trapping IED’s with remote detonation of that IED. In Iraq and elsewhere, it is very common to have an attack, followed up with an attack. The point is to draw in the QRF or emergency folks, or draw in folks who think the bomb is defused, and then initiate the secondary bomb. It is very difficult to defend against, and a common tactic of the bomber. Rest in peace, and my heart goes out to the families of the deceased and injured. –Matt
——————————————————————-
Afghan blast kills two US nationals
February 8, 2009
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AFP) — A bomb killed four people, including two US nationals, in Afghanistan’s southern province of Helmand Sunday, a police commander said, in an attack claimed by the Taliban.
The explosion was in the dangerous Nad Ali district, one of Afghanistan’s main opium-growing areas, where Taliban insurgents are said to earn money by protecting the lucrative crop from US-backed efforts to eliminate it.
The US and NATO-led military forces confirmed the blast but not the casualties.
The group had been checking an improvised explosive device that they believed had been defused, Helmand deputy police chief Kamalodin Khan told AFP.
“Two American advisers, an Afghan interpreter and a policemen were killed,” he said, adding that the bomb was remotely detonated
Another official said, however, that the interpreter had survived.
“While police and their American advisers were defusing the mine, it exploded. Two American advisers and a police officer were killed,” Helmand government spokesman Daud Ahmadi told AFP.
The US military said it was aware of the explosion in the remote area but had no information about casualties.
“Currently details about how many individuals may have been injured or killed is unconfirmed. The incident is currently under investigation,” it said in a statement.
The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) also confirmed there had been a remote-controlled explosion in the district but said first reports were only that an Afghan was killed and another wounded.
The insurgent Taliban movement that is active in the area said it had carried out the attack.
Two “American soldiers” and several Afghan police were killed in the blast, Taliban spokesman Yousuf Ahmadi told AFP by telephone.
Khan, the deputy police chief, said that the district police chief was in a coma after the blast.
The security forces believed they had defused the bomb, he said. “Later they went to check the device. While they were checking, the device was remotely detonated.”
Nad Ali, east of the provincial capital Lashkar Gah, is a dangerous desert area that is largely out of government control.
US security contractors and soldiers, as well as British troops, have been based in the district with Afghan security forces for nearly two weeks as part of a push to weed out the illegal crop.
They have come under attack several times but without loss of life, officials told AFP late last week.
The contractors, most of them from DynCorp, have been helping to train the Afghan police.
Links between the drugs traffickers and insurgents — who earn money by protecting trafficking routes and opium fields — has led ISAF to step up its efforts to help the government fight the trade, including by providing air support.
But Afghan Counternarcotics Minister General Khodaidad said recently ISAF should find traffickers and “eliminate” them as they would Taliban militants and other insurgents battling the government.
“They are the same… they are supporting terrorism in Afghanistan,” he said on a visit last week to inspect opium poppy eradication efforts in Helmand.
The government estimated that insurgents bought new weapons with 100 million dollars earned through protecting trafficking routes last year, he said.
Afghanistan produces about 90 percent of the world’s opium, much of it used to make heroin for markets in Europe, Central Asia and the Middle East.
Helmand, where British troops are based for ISAF, provides about two-thirds of Afghanistan’s opium.
Story Here