Tuesday, June 02, 2009 KABUL: A bomb blew up a vehicle northeast of the Afghan capital Tuesday and killed six Afghan civilians including two children, the interior ministry said.It was not immediately clear if the bomb was planted in the road, which runs past the largest US military base in Afghanistan, or was fixed to the vehicle, interior ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary said. "Two men and two women and two children are killed," he said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for attack. Such blasts are usually directed at the Afghan or foreign security forces that are trying to put down an insurgency led by the Taliban. It comes a week after another bombing in the same area killed three US troops serving with a NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) as well as three Afghan civilians. Insurgents have stepped up bomb attacks in Afghanistan in recent weeks after vowing in April to widen their campaign against the government. Four US soldiers from ISAF were killed in two bomb strikes on Monday in the province of Wardak, which also adjoins Kabul, the force said. Homemade bombs -- called improvised-explosive devices by the military -- cause 70-80 percent of the casualties to foreign troops in Afghanistan but also kill more civilians that soldiers, the military says.
BEIRUT: Thousands of people converged Saturday on central Beirut to mark the fourth anniversary of the assassination of Lebanese former premier Rafiq Hariri.Waving Lebanese flags and carrying pictures of the slain leader, men, women and children gathered under sunny skies in Martyr's Square where members of the parliamentary majority were to address the crowd. The rally comes as final preparations are underway in The Hague for the launch of the international tribunal set up to bring Hariri's killers to justice. It also comes as the country prepares for legislative elections in June that will pit Western-backed political parties against a Hezbollah-led alliance backed by Syria and Iran.Hariri died in a massive car bombing on February 14, 2005 that also killed 22 others. The assassination was widely blamed on then Lebanese power-broker Syria, which has denied any involvement. The attack on the Beirut seafront was one of the worst acts of political violence to rock Lebanon since t...
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