Kabul, March 11 (RHC)-- At least thirteen people have been killed and tens of others injured when a string of bomb explosions ripped through the northern and southern parts of war-wracked Afghanistan. A senior police official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said one civilian lost his life and 16 others sustained injuries when a bomb exploded near a hospital in Baghlan's provincial capital city of Puli Khumri, located 230 kilometers (142 miles) north of the capital, Kabul, on Tuesday.
Separately, eight people were killed and 23 others wounded when a car bomb blast struck a police checkpoint in Afghanistan's southern province of Helmand. Omar Zwak, a spokesman for the provincial governor, said the blast took place as a bomber detonated his explosives-laden car near the checkpoint on the outskirts of the provincial capital city of Lashkar Gah, located about 555 kilometers south of the capital. He added that the dead included six civilians and two police officers.
In another development of Tuesday, a roadside bombing killed four people and wounded five elsewhere in Afghanistan. No individual or group has claimed responsibility for the acts of terror. However, such incidents are usually blamed on Taliban militants.
Latest official data show as many as 20 bomb attacks were carried out in Afghanistan in February. Meanwhile, some 70 people, nearly half of them civilians, lost their lives and more than 80 others sustained injuries in a spate of terrorist attacks during the same period.
Japan Marks 70th Anniversary of U.S. Bombing of Tokyo; 4 Years Since Fukushima
Tokyo, March 11 (RHC)-- A ceremony was held in Tokyo on Tuesday to mark the 70th anniversary of the U.S. bombing of the city. The so-called Operation Meetinghouse air raid of March 1945 is known as the deadliest in history, killing more than 100,000 people and leaving much of Tokyo in flames.
Today, Japan is marking the fourth anniversary of the earthquake and tsunami that killed some 18,000 people and set off a nuclear meltdown at the Fukushima plant.
