25 people die in Afghan anti-Nato protest, suicide blast

A Nato raid sparked violent protests that left 12 dead while a suicide bomber killed 13 people in Afghanistan yesterday in one of the country’s bloodiest days for weeks.

Those killed in the protests in Taloqan, capital of the northeastern province of Takhar, were mainly civilians, while police trainers and cadets died when a bomber drove his car into a police bus near Jalalabad, eastern Afghanistan.

The Nato raid that led to the demonstrations in usually peaceful Takhar saw President Hamid Karzai demanding an explanation of what happened from the US commander of troops in Afghanistan, General David Petraeus

The Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said an overnight operation which killed four people including two women targeted the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), a militant group operating from bases including in Afghanistan.

But furious protesters on the streets of Taloqan and the Western-backed Karzai said the four dead were civilians.

Police opened fire as 2,000 frenzied demonstrators gathered in the city, some throwing rocks at a foreign military and civilian reconstruction base.

“Twelve people have been killed and 80 others injured,” said Faiz Mohammad Tawhidi, spokesman for the provincial governor. Two German soldiers were among the wounded, but their injuries were not life-threatening.

Mr Karzai, who frequently denounces foreign military operations that he says kill too many civilians, “strongly condemned” the Nato house raid, saying it had killed four members of the same family.

“The government of Afghanistan has a duty to assess the circumstances of the deaths of these individuals and demand an explanation from the commander of Nato (in Afghanistan),” his office said in a statement.

ISAF had said earlier that the operation was conducted alongside Afghan forces and that the two women who died in the raid were armed and pointed their weapons at coalition forces despite warnings.

During the protest, demonstrators threw rocks at the Provincial Advisory Team (PAT) compound, interior ministry spokesman Zemerai Bashary said.

The local PAT is a German-led group of soldiers and civilians working to help Afghan government institutions.