Afghanistan’s Taliban militia has released a DVD purporting to show suicide bombers shortly before they carry out attacks and calling for more strikes on United States and British coalition troops.
The film, a copy of which was seen by Agence France-Presse, is called Convoy of Martyrdom Seekers and is sold at markets in restive north-west Pakistan and on the other side of the border in eastern Afghanistan.
Its release comes as Britain prepares to deploy 3 300 troops in southern Afghanistan. The US already has more than 17 000 soldiers fighting rebels from the hard-line Taliban, who were ousted in late 2001.
It features three men wearing white headbands with black script in the Pashto language reading out statements. Laid out in front of them are explosives and detonators.
”It is the only way of getting rid of US and British occupation, and this is the only way through which once again we can pave the way for the establishment of an Islamic government in Afghanistan,” one of the alleged bombers says.
The DVD says one of the men — called Saifullah and hailing from Afghanistan’s restive Paktika province — went on to attack US troops in the Girishk district of Helmand province on January 14.
Police said at the time that a suicide car bomber slightly damaged a US vehicle in Girishk but hurt no US soldiers. The film claims that seven US troops were killed and two tanks were destroyed.
The other two, named as Mullah Mohammad Yousaf and Mullah Amanullah from Khost province, launched a suicide attack on US forces in Kandahar on January 1, the film adds. There were no reports of any attacks on that date.
The film has no footage of the bombings. It only shows a series of photos of a badly damaged vehicle on fire, the details and authenticity of which could not be confirmed.
Coalition figures say there have been 19 suicide bombings between January 1 and April 30, in which 47 people and 20 bombers died. Another on May 2 in Kabul killed the bomber and a civilian.
Lieutenant General Karl Eikenberry, who commands US forces in Afghanistan, said on Wednesday that Taliban attacks in the country’s south are on the rise. He also said the number of Taliban fighters appears to have grown in recent months. — AFP
