At least 20 people, including NATO troops, were killed in a suicide attack in the eastern Afghanistan city of Khost on Monday, AFP reports.
According to the provincial governor’s spokesman Baryalai Rawan, a suicide bomber on a motorcycle attacked a crowded market in Khost around 8:30 a.m., killing 10 civilians and 6 Afghan police officers. The explosion also wounded 62 people. The International Security Assistance Force confirmed that three NATO troops and their interpreter were among those killed.
Taliban insurgents claimed responsibility for the suicide attack, saying it was carried out by “a hero mujahid, Shohaib, from Kunduz” on their website. The deaths add to rising NATO fatalities amid the disturbing trend of “blue-on-green killings”. An American soldier was killed Monday in a shooting by Afghan security forces, and there is believed to be growing mistrust between foreign troops and their Afghan partners. Local forces seemingly turned their guns on NATO troops to avenge their Prophet Mohammed after a ‘crude’ film mocked Islam.
