Attacks on US special forces**, Afghan army and police kill 50 in Kabul

[Sunlei]

**Camp Integrity is run by US security contractor Academi, which was known as Blackwater before being sold to investors. Academi did not immediately respond to requests for comment.


KABUL: A wave of attacks on Afghan army, police and US special forces in Kabul on Friday killed at least 50 people and wounded hundreds, dimming hopes that the Taliban might be weakened by a leadership struggle after their longtime leader's death. The bloodshed began with a truck bomb that exploded in a heavily populated district of the capital and ended with an hours-long battle at a base used by US special forces. It became the deadliest day in Kabul for years.

The radical Islamist insurgents claimed responsibility for both the police academy attack and the battle at the US special forces base, though not for the truck bomb. The scale of the violence heightened obstacles to reviving the stalled peace process and conveyed a no-compromise message from the Taliban at a delicate time following last week's revelation of Mullah Mohammad Omar's death and an ongoing dispute over leadership of the radical Islamist insurgency.

On Saturday, Nato-led coalition forces confirmed that one international service member and eight Afghan contractors were killed in the attack on Camp Integrity, a base used by US special forces near the main airport.

The blast outside the base was powerful enough to flatten offices inside, wounding occupants who were airlifted by helicopter to military hospitals during the night. "There was a big explosion at the gate ... (The gunfire) sounded like it came from two different sides," said a special forces member who was wounded when his office collapsed.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/south-asia/Attacks-on-US-special-forces-Afghan-army-and-police-kill-50-in-Kabul/articleshow/48404354.cms