4 hurt in attack that killed 2 US troops – Father of Afghan robotics girl killed in mosque attack

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KABUL, Afghanistan, Aug 3, (Agencies): The US military in Afghanistan says that four American troops were wounded in the same suicide bombing near the city of Kandahar the previous day that killed two US service members.

The statement released in Kabul on Thursday says their injuries are not life threatening.

It followed an unprecedented delay in releasing the American casualty tolls in the attack in southern Afghanistan — reflecting an emerging disagreement on how the military should handle information about American casualties.

In Wednesday’s attack, a suicide bomber rammed his explosive laden car into a NATO convoy outside Kandahar. The Taleban quickly took responsibility for the attack.

Navy Capt Jeff Davis confirmed the casualties in the attack near Kandahar city. The Pentagon’s decision to release the figures seemed to contradict orders issued two months ago by Army Gen John Nicholson, the top US commander in Afghanistan, barring information about US combat deaths until days after the incident.

There was no information on the number of troops wounded.

US military officials in Afghanistan refused to give any information about casualties, even after the Pentagon released the casualty figures.

Nicholson’s orders stifling information from the US military in Afghanistan was met with opposition from within the Pentagon, where officials reportedly tried to resolve the impasse. However, the decision by the Pentagon to release Wednesday’s casualty figures would seem to indicate that the issue has gone unresolved two months into the order.

Nicholson said the reason for the delay was to allow time for notification of family. Yet it upends Pentagon practice since the Vietnam era, and gives the public less information and transparency into a war that has raged for 16 years, resulting in thousands of deaths and injuries.

The Taleban quickly took responsibility for the attack, and a spokesman for the insurgents said the bombing allegedly killed 15 soldiers but the Taleban routinely exaggerate their gains and casualty figures.

Meanwhile, the father of an Afghan girl who represented her country in a robotics competition in the United States died in this week’s Herat mosque attack, her family said Thursday.

Fifteen-year-old Fatema Qaderyan was part of the six-member team of Afghan teenage girls who won hearts across the globe when they competed in the international youth event in Washington DC last month.

They made headlines after twice being denied American visas, and were only able to travel from war-torn Afghanistan for the FIRST Global Challenge following a late intervention by US President Donald Trump.

Qaderyan’s older brother told AFP that their father died in Tuesday night’s suicide bomb attack on the Jawadya mosque which killed dozens and was claimed by the Islamic State group.

“We are all devastated, Fatema hasn’t eaten or spoken since the incident, and is in a state of shock. Today after she fainted several times, doctors started IV fluid therapy,” Mohammad Reza said at the family home.

The six girls are all from Herat, which lies close to the Iranian border in the west of Afghanistan.

Before they were granted US visas for the event, in which they competed against high school students from around the world, Qaderyan made an emotional plea for them to be allowed to travel.

“We were not a terrorist group to go to America and scare people,” she told AFP.

“We want to take the message of peace to America and convey that Afghanistan is not only the country of war, and there are girls who chase their dreams in robots and education,” she added.

 

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