AFGHANISTAN: Gory day in Afghanistan offers snapshot of record-setting violence
Posted by warvictims on July 9, 2008
BY ALEXANDER PANETTA, CP
It was a record-setting day for violence in Afghanistan, offering a grim snapshot of a steady spike in suicide killings, roadside bombings, and civilian and military casualties.
A Canadian military medic renowned for his perpetually sunny disposition was pronounced dead from a roadside bomb.
Afghanistan’s capital saw its deadliest attack since the fall of the Taliban, with 40 people killed, scores more injured, and terror-stricken civilians fleeing from a suicide blast site in Kabul.
And three more police officers became the latest victims of a surge in violence in a Kandahar district following the assassination of the local member of parliament several days ago.
It all happened Monday.
Shortly after the massive explosion in Kabul, a woman ran from a local hospital screaming, crying and hitting her face in grief. Her two children, a girl named Lima and a boy named Mirwais, were killed.
“Oh my God!” the woman screamed. “They are both dead.”
The attack on the Indian embassy came in one of Afghanistan’s most prestigious neighbourhoods, the tree-lined enclave of Wazir Akhbar Khan immortalized in the novel The Kite Runner.
The Taliban denied responsibility for the attack while India’s arch-rival Pakistan expressed its condolences.
Suicide-bombings, once an unknown concept in Afghanistan, have increased exponentially: from zero in 2002, to two in 2003, three in 2004, 17 in 2005, 123 in 2006, and 160 last year.
Meanwhile, hundreds of kilometres away from the bomb site, Canadian flags flew at half-mast as bagpipes moaned mournfully during a sunset ceremony in honour of Pte. Colin William Wilmot.
His flag-draped coffin was lifted onto an airplane at Kandahar Airfield for the voyage home. Across the city at a Canadian reconstruction camp, the military medic was eulogized by a weeping colleague.
Peers described how the Edmonton-based soldier was not scheduled to come to Afghanistan, but barged into the office of his superior and insisted on being added to the current rotation.
Several spoke of Wilmot’s fundamental kindness and unwavering good cheer.
“He’d walk around with this really goofy smile on his face all the time. I don’t know why. He just did. He was always happy — no matter what the situation was,” said a tearful Cpl. Genevieve Dureau, who served in his unit.
Wilmot became the 87th soldier killed in the Afghan mission when an improvised explosive device detonated during a night-time foot patrol just after midnight Sunday.
June was the deadliest month for coalition troops since they entered Afghanistan in October 2001 to oust the Taliban, just weeks after the 9-11 attacks in the U.S.
June’s total eclipsed the previous record — set in May.
Coalition deaths have increased steadily since 2004 with 58 soldiers killed that year. The total more than doubled to 130 killed in 2005, 191 in 2006, and 232 in 2007. One hundred twenty-seven have died so far this year.
But coalition partners say such statistical indicators offer a distorted picture of the reality in Afghanistan.
Canadian officials point to far more encouraging statistics:
– Per-capita income has doubled across the country since 2002.
– Over 80 per cent of Afghans now have access to basic health care, compared with only nine per cent in 2004.
– School enrolment has shot up almost 1,000 per cent from 2001 — with girls also allowed to attend.
