KABUL: A Romanian soldier was killed in a Taliban claimed suicide attack on a NATO convoy in southern Afghanistan that also wounded two others, officials said Saturday.
The assailant drove a vehicle packed with explosives into the foreign patrol as they drove through Daman district in Kandahar province on Friday.
All three casualties were Romanian soldiers, NATO’s Resolute Support train and assist mission said in a statement.
General John Nicholson, who heads up US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, condemned the attack and said it was further evidence the Taliban “are not interested in peace.”
“This loss only continues to strengthen our resolve and support to the Afghan government and its citizens as we work toward a secure and stable Afghanistan,” Nicholson said.
In a WhatsApp message sent to journalists on Friday Taliban spokesman Qari Yousuf Ahmadi said “seven invading forces” were killed in the attack. The militants routinely exaggerate battlefield claims.
The Taliban’s latest assault follows the group’s pledge to turn Afghanistan into a “graveyard” for foreign forces after US President Donald Trump’s announcement last month to keep American boots on the ground indefinitely.
Earlier this month two Taliban suicide bombers launched separate attacks around Bagram Airfield, America’s largest base in the country, that wounded several US soldiers and civilians.
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Romanian soldier killed in Taliban attack in Afghanistan: NATO
Romanian soldier killed in Taliban attack in Afghanistan: NATO
Fire ravages Amsterdam church on ‘unsettled’ Dutch New Year
The Hague: A huge inferno gutted a 19th century Amsterdam church Thursday, as the Netherlands endured an unsettled New Year’s Eve with two dead from fireworks and “unprecedented” violence against police.
The blaze broke out in the early hours at the Vondelkerk, a tourist attraction that has overlooked one of the city’s top parks since 1872.
The 50-meter-high (164-foot) tower collapsed and the roof was badly damaged but the structure was expected to remain intact, Amsterdam authorities said.
The cause of the blaze was not immediately clear.
The head of the Dutch Police Union, Nine Kooiman, reported an “unprecedented amount of violence against police and emergency services” over New Year’s Eve.
She said she herself had been pelted three times by fireworks and other explosives as she worked a shift in Amsterdam.
Shortly after midnight, authorities released a rare country-wide alert on mobile phones warning people not to call overwhelmed emergency services unless lives were at risk.
Reports of attacks against police and firefighters were widespread across the country. In the southern city of Breda, people threw petrol bombs at police.
Two people, a 17-year-old boy and a 38-year-old man, were killed in fireworks accidents. Three others were seriously injured.
The eye hospital in Rotterdam said it had treated 14 patients, including 10 minors, for eye injuries. Two received surgery.
It was the last year before an expected ban on unofficial fireworks, so the Dutch bought them in massive quantities.
According to the Dutch Pyrotechnics Association, revellers splashed out a record 129 million euros ($151 million) on fireworks.
Some areas had been designated firework-free zones, but this appeared to have little effect.
An AFP journalist in such a zone in The Hague reported loud bangs until around 3am.
In Germany, two 18-year-olds died in the western city of Bielefeld when they set off home-made fireworks that produced “deadly facial injuries,” local police said in a statement.
The blaze broke out in the early hours at the Vondelkerk, a tourist attraction that has overlooked one of the city’s top parks since 1872.
The 50-meter-high (164-foot) tower collapsed and the roof was badly damaged but the structure was expected to remain intact, Amsterdam authorities said.
The cause of the blaze was not immediately clear.
The head of the Dutch Police Union, Nine Kooiman, reported an “unprecedented amount of violence against police and emergency services” over New Year’s Eve.
She said she herself had been pelted three times by fireworks and other explosives as she worked a shift in Amsterdam.
Shortly after midnight, authorities released a rare country-wide alert on mobile phones warning people not to call overwhelmed emergency services unless lives were at risk.
Reports of attacks against police and firefighters were widespread across the country. In the southern city of Breda, people threw petrol bombs at police.
Two people, a 17-year-old boy and a 38-year-old man, were killed in fireworks accidents. Three others were seriously injured.
The eye hospital in Rotterdam said it had treated 14 patients, including 10 minors, for eye injuries. Two received surgery.
It was the last year before an expected ban on unofficial fireworks, so the Dutch bought them in massive quantities.
According to the Dutch Pyrotechnics Association, revellers splashed out a record 129 million euros ($151 million) on fireworks.
Some areas had been designated firework-free zones, but this appeared to have little effect.
An AFP journalist in such a zone in The Hague reported loud bangs until around 3am.
In Germany, two 18-year-olds died in the western city of Bielefeld when they set off home-made fireworks that produced “deadly facial injuries,” local police said in a statement.
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