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Foreign troops in Afghanistan try to control the situation
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KABUL,
August 31 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - In the latest of a series
of blasts, undermining confidence in the security situation in the
Afghan capital, two explosions were reported Saturday, August 31, 2002,
at Kabul airport. This came only hours after the U.S. declared it was
considering the expansion of the UN force in Afghanistan behind Kabul,
following the first statement by the
Secret Army of the Afghan Fighters (Mujahideen).
Lieutenant Commander Altug Akyuz, a spokesman for the International
Security Assistance Force (ISAF), told reporters that the two explosions
went off at around 6:50am (0220 GMT) but gave few other details,
reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
"One was big, the other one small. The French battle group was
asked to investigate and are investigating," he said.
There were no reports of casualties and air traffic was not disrupted.
The spokesman also said that two gunshots were heard in the early hours
of Saturday morning around 300 meters from the British contingent's base
in eastern Kabul.
There was no suggestion the gunshots were aimed at the British base.
ISAF's Turkish commander Major General Akin Zorlu said earlier this week
that security in Kabul was improving "day by day".
However, Zorlu said that a series of recent small explosions in Kabul,
including a blast outside the United Nations main guesthouse last
Sunday, were carried out by people who wanted to create an atmosphere of
fear.
"The Taliban and al-Qaeda are seeking opportunities to mount
attacks to destabilize the situation and to prove that they are still
active," he told reporters.
ISAF spokesmen previously said that some of the explosions reported in
Kabul could be merely old unexploded ordinance triggered by accident.
However,
an Afghani group sent a statement to IslamOnline Tuesday, August 27,
2002, claiming responsibility for a string of attacks targeting U.S.
troops in Afghanistan and promising to continue its attacks in revenge
for innocent civilians killed during the U.S. war in Afghanistan.
The
group, calling itself the
Secret Army of the Afghan Fighters (Mujahideen), said their attacks
against the Americans in Afghanistan will continue until the last U.S.
soldier leaves the country and a “free Islamic Afghanistan” is
established.
The
statement - which provides details of 30 attacks against U.S. troops in
Kabul, Bagram military base, and six towns in eastern and southern
Afghanistan from March 4, to August 23 - is apparently the first one
issued by this new group whose name has never been mentioned previously.
For
its part, ISAF called for vigilance although it expressed "a high
degree of confidence in the local police force".
However, Kabul residents face a nervous atmosphere as it is difficult to
distinguish the sound of hostile bomb blasts from mine-clearance
operations in nearby hills and simple accidents involving gas bottles.
Containers of chemicals were discovered in a house near the center of
town on Saturday, August 24. No arrests have been made.
And tensions have also been heightened by the recent interception of a
car packed with high explosives, and the discovery of a truck carrying
booby-trapped gas bottles.
Concern also mounted in the provinces following incidents involving
staff from the UN and non-governmental organizations, with many now
opting not to travel by road.
