Bombings kill 15 Afghans, 4 Canadian troops

“This attack amounts to a serious violation of international humanitarian law,” said Tom Koenigs, the top U.N. official in Afghanistan.

The commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, Lt. Gen. David Richards, said the attack took place as Canadian troops were arranging aid, reconstruction and development for villagers in the district, which suffered heavy damage during the NATO offensive.

“It is beyond comprehension that a suicide bomber should choose this time to attack, knowing that he could kill innocent children,” Richards said in a statement.

NATO claims a success
At least 36 Canadian soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since 2002. Five died during Operation Medusa, in which NATO estimated it killed at least 510 insurgents with airstrikes and ground assaults.

On Sunday, Richards called Operation Medusa a success and said NATO had reclaimed crucial territory from the Taliban.

Most of the village’s 25 families fled the fighting and only the desperately poor stayed behind, Mohammed said.

“Taliban were in this village before, but now there are fewer remaining,” said another villager, shopkeeper Jan Mohammed. “But if you kill 100 or 1,000 Taliban, another 1,000 will come to continue the fighting.”

Most of the recent surge in violence has occurred in southern provinces, where some 8,000 NATO soldiers took over military operations from a U.S.-led coalition Aug. 1.

NATO commanders say they need 2,500 more soldiers, plus greater air support, to crush the Taliban threat more quickly.

Insurgents expand into west
The bombing in Herat and a string of recent attacks in neighboring Farah province indicate insurgents are spreading their deadly campaign out of the south into long quiet regions in Afghanistan’s west.

Reacting to the recent spree of western attacks, Afghan and foreign troops launched an operation Monday in Farah, where a dozen Taliban and police were killed by insurgent raids last week.

Operation Wyconda Pincer involves Afghan soldiers and police along with U.S., Italian and Spanish troops, NATO said.

“This operation is in response to a growing number of terrorist acts that have occurred in recent weeks,” said Cdr. Michael Horan, a NATO official in Farah.

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