Indian Military

LASHKAR GAH: Roadside mines killed 23 civilians in southern Afghanistan on Friday when a minibus and a tractor separately struck explosives in Helmand province, officials said.
The minibus was travelling from Nahr-e-Saraj district to the provincial capital of Lashkar Gah when it hit a mine and all 19 people inside were killed, said Kamaludden, head of the National Directorate of Security in Helmand.
When security forces arrived at the scene they were attacked by Taliban insurgents, said Hekmatullah Akmal, a highway police commander.
He said it appeared at least 17 people had been killed, but the devastation caused by the blast made it difficult to determine how many people had been on the bus.
In Garmsir district, south of Lashkar Gah, a tractor also hit a roadside bomb, killing four civilians, officials said.
The first half of this year was the deadliest six months for civilians in Afghanistan since the near decade-old war began, according to the U.N. mission in Afghanistan.

JALALABAD, AFGHANISTAN: A suicide bomber driving a truck attacked an advance NATO combat post in central Afghanistan, wounding 89 people including 50 American soldiers, the United States Army said Sunday.
The Taliban claimed responsibility on their Internet site for Saturday's attack, news of which came as the world marked the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks that killed almost 3,000 people in the United States.
US Army spokesman Major David Eastburn said: "It happened at 5:15 pm on Saturday.
"It detonated near the entrypoint at a combat outpost, resulting in 89 wounded in action and a 20-foot hole in the wall."
NATO's International Security Assistance Force said in a statement: "A Taliban suicide bomber detonated a large vehicle-borne improvised explosive device at the entrance of Combat Outpost Sayed Abad, Wardak province, yesterday (Saturday)."
Eastburn said 50 American soldiers were among the injured.