A reminder that the operation is not over in Afganistan. Why would a construction company be a target, one that helps rebuild roads?
K A B U L, Afghanistan, Aug. 9 — A powerful explosion ripped through an Afghan construction firm’s building in the eastern city of Jalalabad today, killing at least 12 people and injuring 85 others, a local military commander reported.
The commander, Hazrat Ali, said the tremendous blast also damaged surrounding homes as far as 500 yards away. He said he believed it was caused by a car bomb.
“The number of dead will probably rise because of people dying in the hospital,” he told The Associated Press.
The explosion occurred at a building of the Afghan Construction and Logistics Unit, which was founded as a nongovernmental organization but has since become a private organization.
Ali said some 50 homes were damaged in the neighborhood in western Jalalabad, 70 miles east of Kabul. The building where the explosion occurred was still burning two hours after the 12:30 p.m. blast, he said.
“It was a tremendous explosion,” said Ali, regional commander for the Afghan military.
Reached by satellite telephone from Kabul, he said the explosion probably came from a car inside the compound or the building, but he gave no further details.
He said, without further explanation, that three staff members, including the second-ranking officer of the company, had been taken into custody for questioning about the blast.
The company, known as ACLU, was founded as a nongovernmental organization with U.S. funding to do road-building and other construction, but U.S. funding was withdrawn about a decade ago.
The unit has since continued operations as a private company fulfilling contracts from international organizations.
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/world/DailyNews/STRIKE_MAIN.html