16 Coalition Personnel Killed in Afghanistan Attacks

By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Oct. 29, 2011 – A car bomb smashed into an International Security Assistance Force convoy in Kabul today killing 13 coalition personnel, NATO officials said.

 Five of the dead are service members, and eight are ISAF civilian employees. The attack injured several Afghans and coalition personnel as well as innocent Afghan civilian.

News reports out of Kabul say the Taliban took credit for the car bomb attack, and reports indicate the car ran into what is popularly called a Rhino -- essentially an armored bus.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta was informed of the convoy attack soon after it happened. “His heart goes out to those who were killed and wounded, and to their families,” said Pentagon Press Secretary George Little. “Continuing our aggressive pursuit of the enemy will honor their sacrifice, and he is determined that the United States – working closely with our Afghan and NATO partners – will do precisely that.”

A second attack in southern Afghanistan took the lives of three more coalition personnel and wounded others when a man wearing an Afghan National Army uniform shot the soldiers.

ISAF Commander U.S. Marine Gen. John R. Allen condemned today’s terrorist attacks.

“I am both saddened and outraged by the attacks that took place today against coalition forces and the people of Afghanistan,” Allen said in a written release. “The enemies of peace are not martyrs, but murderers. To hide the fact that they are losing territory, support and the will to fight, our common enemy continues to employ suicide attackers to kill innocent Afghan fathers, mothers, sons and daughters, as well as the coalition forces who have volunteered to protect them.”

Allen also mentioned a suicide attack launched by a young girl who walked into a building housing the National Directorate of Security, Afghanistan’s internal intelligence service, in the eastern province of Kunar. The girl killed herself and wounded several NDS personnel.

“My thoughts and prayers are with the families of those killed and injured in today’s attacks,” Allen said. “Their sacrifices will be honored and the enemy will be held to account.”