Taliban attacks on both sides of the AfPak border

In Kabul and Peshawar, nearly 100 dead, among them UN staffers.

Jean MacKenzie October 28, 2009 09:40Updated May 30, 2010 12:12

A man carries the body of a boy killed during a car-bomb explosion in Peshawar, located in Pakistan's restive North West Frontier Province October 28, 2009. A car bomb ripped through a crowded market killing 90 people in Pakistan's city of Peshawar on Wednesday, just hours after Washington's top diplomat arrived pledging a fresh start in sometimes strained relations. (Fayaz Aziz/Reuters)

KABUL, Afghanistan — The Taliban here and in Pakistan have dramatically stepped up their attacks on two fronts.

In Peshawar, Pakistan, a car bomb killed at least 80 people, the latest in a series of militant strikes in answer to the Pakistani Army’s offensive against Taliban strongholds in South Waziristan, on the border with Afghanistan. The attack came just hours after U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in the country.

Here in Kabul, at least six U.N. staffers were killed and another nine injured in Kabul on Wednesday as the Taliban made good on threats to wreak havoc in the days before the run-off election for the presidency scheduled for Nov. 7. In addition to the attack on the U.N., insurgents fired at least three mortar rounds, targeting the presidential palace and a five-star hotel popular with election workers and diplomats.

The double-barreled strikes send a strong message that the Taliban are on the move on both sides of the region’s troubled border.

The Kabul attacks began shortly after 6:00 a.m., when three suicide bombers armed with machine guns stormed a compound housing staffers from UNDP-Elect, the UN Development Program mission charged with supporting the Afghan elections.

According to various reports, the men were dressed in Afghan national police uniforms, and killed a guard outside before gaining entry to the compound. Official police reports say that one of the attackers detonated his vest directly inside the compound, killing or wounding the remaining three guards.

Sources within the Interior Ministry say that the attackers had free rein within the guest house for several minutes before an Afghan Quick Reaction Force arrived.

A two-hour gun battle then ensued, in which the remaining two attackers killed themselves by exploding their suicide vests. Three international U.N. staffers were shot, and an additional three were killed when the final attacker detonated his vest, which was loaded with deadly ball-bearings.