Afghan bombings increase

[unhappycamper]

Afghan bombings increase
Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Friday, January 3, 2009

The number of roadside bomb attacks in Afghanistan — and the casualties caused by those attacks — increased more than 30 percent during the past year, according to the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan.

According to the figures, bomb attacks have now become the largest single cause of NATO casualties in Afghanistan, reflecting a trend that began in the Iraq campaign.

Attacks targeting Afghan forces more than doubled, and attacks against civilians increased by 40 percent, officials said.

Improvised explosives "are the biggest threat we face," Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Schloesser, the U.S. commander in eastern Afghanistan, said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. "They are the largest killer of ISAF troops."

Roadside bombs have grown in popularity among the Taliban and other militants fighting Western and Afghan forces. In Iraq, the bombs constantly evolved into more and more sophisticated weapons, causing nearly 2,000 U.S. deaths.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=59754



uhc comment: Heckofajob, dubya.