24 Hour Bomb Tolls Reach 78 | Anand Gopal Analysis

A wave of violence continues to sweep across Afghanistan. Today, nineteen people were killed by a mine planted on a highway in Helmand Province.

The deaths come amid mourning for 59 people, mainly Shia worshipers, who were killed in twin bomb attacks in the country yesterday.

It brings to 78 the number of Afghans killed in the last 24 hours from bombings. The number is likely to rise.

“Dawoud Ahmadi, the spokesman for the governor of Helmand Province, said the victims were among 24 people crammed aboard a minibus traveling from Lashkar Gah,the provincial capital, to the Sangin District, a dangerous part of the province where Taliban insurgents have been active. The minibus drove over the mine.”

Anand Gopal offers insights into the impact of yesterday's attack. Posing a dark question, "how do you end a war that no one can control?"

From Bad to Worse

“You would think that, after ten long and bloody years, there would be little new the Afghan war could offer in terms of brutality. But Tuesday's twin suicide strikes on Shi'a Muslim processions in Kabul and Mazar-i-Sharif, leaving 58 dead and more than a hundred wounded, marks an unprecedented insurgent assault on civilians. Never before in the current war have Afghanistan's Shi'a been deliberately targeted, and rarely has an attack been so completely devoid of a military target.”