Truck Bomb Targeting NATO Troops Kills 25 in Afghanistan

A logging truck rigged with explosives detonated near Afghanistan’s capital, killing 25 people Thursday morning, local officials said.

The attack near Kabul seemed to be targeted at NATO troops in the area, but there were no reports of casualties or injuries to coalition troops, said Deen Mohammed Darwesh, a spokesman for the governor of Logar province.

Twenty-one civilians and four policemen were killed in the attack, said Zamarai Bashari, spokesman for the Interior Ministry.

Ten other people were wounded in the attack. Many of the wounded were students going to school, the Interior Ministry spokesman said.

Inauguration – Tips To FBI About Suspicious Activity On The Rise

The FBI said Saturday it is receiving more and more tips about suspicious activities and items as the inauguration approaches, though there have been no specific or credible threats.

“The closer you get to the event, the more threat streams come in. People become a little bit more aware and want to do the right thing and pick up the phone and call us and tell us,” said John Perren, the special agent in charge for counterterrorism at the FBI’s Washington field office.

“Agencies want to forward us everything they have, just to ensure that this inauguration will be the safest inauguration there has ever been,” Perren said.

The FBI is one of 58 federal, state and local law enforcement agencies that are part of the largest inaugural security operation in history.

There is no credible intelligence, at this point, that indicates terrorists plan to disrupt the events. But intelligence officials are concerned about potential attack scenarios, such as a car bomb or other explosive devices.

Should such an incident occur over the next three days, the bureau is ready with emergency response equipment that stretches down a city block on 5th Street.

There is a 40-foot bomb truck to handle suspicious items with a bomb-detecting robot that performs jobs considered too dangerous for a person. The FBI has a separate truck with a 12,000-pound blue steel ball that is strong enough to contain blasts of explosives.

There is also a mobile command center with seven laptops, 15 televisions, six cell phones, a microwave, mini fridge and 12-cup coffee maker; an armored assault vehicle; and evidence response team trucks to process a crime scene.

The FBI will have as many as 1,000 employees helping to secure the inauguration, with 155 two-person intelligence teams dressed in plain clothes and strategically placed to look for specific threats.

“We’re very, very confident that if anything happens, we know how to respond to it,” Perren said.

via Source

Car Bomb – Several Killed In Damascus Near Syrian Airport

At least 17 people have been killed and at least 14 injured in a car bomb attack in the Syrian capital Damascus, Syrian television reports.

The car bomb, which Syrian public television said contained about 200kg of explosives, detonated in a southern suburb of the capital on Saturday.

The bomb exploded close to a security post in the Sidi Qada district near the airport road, an Al Jazeera correspondent in Damascus reported, but all of the victims are believed to be civilians.

No group or individual has so far claimed responsibility for the attack.

Yemen – US Embassy Terror Attack Leaves Several Dead, Injured

Islamist militants attacked the US embassy in the Yemeni capital Sanaa with a car bomb and rockets on Wednesday, leaving 16 people dead, in the second strike on the high-security compound in six months.

No American personnel were reported injured. Read more

Car Bomb Kills 4 in Colombia’s Cali

A car bomb blast has killed four people and wounded around 20 in front of the palace of justice in the Colombian city of Cali, officials say.

Victims were pedestrians, a taxi driver and his passengers in the center of the city about 186 miles southwest Bogota. Read more