Taleban claims civilians, Italian soldier

LASHKAR GAH - Allies in the war against Afghanistan's Taleban militants pledged to stay the course yesterday as a suicide bomber killed 18 in the south and a blast killed an Italian Nato soldier.

The Taleban's intensified campaign against the Government and foreign troops this year has spawned the worst violence since the hardline Islamists were ousted after the September 11 attacks in 2001.

The Taleban claimed responsibility for the suicide blast outside the Governor's office in Lashkar Gah, capital of Helmand province. Nato troops were in the area but none was hurt, an official said.

Most of those killed were civilians, many queuing to do paperwork for a pilgrimage to Mecca.

Near Kabul, a roadside bomb killed an Italian Nato soldier and seriously wounded two compatriots. The Taleban also claimed that attack.

US and Nato troops are up against a much more intense insurgency than expected and Nato has called for more troops from member nations.

Western Governments say the mission is an essential part of the war on terrorism but the violence is raising calls for troops to come home.

In Washington, Afghan President Hamid Karzai met US President George W. Bush at the White House and again called for measures to prevent militants crossing the border from Pakistan.

Karzai is sceptical about an agreement Pakistan has signed with Islamic militants to withdraw its forces from the border region in return for a pledge from tribal leaders to stop cross-border attacks.

"We will have to wait and see if that is going to be implemented exactly the way it is signed," he said.

The sister of the Italian killed yesterday said the troops should leave.

"You can't let our boys be slaughtered like butcher's meat," said Barbara Langella. "It's not right that other families, other wives, other mothers, fathers and girlfriends, suffer like this again."

Italian President Giorgio Napolitano defended the Afghan mission, saying it was "indispensable." But the attack stoked debate in the ruling centre-left coalition.

"There is the financing for the mission until the end of the year, but it's obvious that we have to seriously look at the issue of how to get out," Welfare Minister Paolo Ferrero was quoted as saying.

British Defence Secretary Des Browne defended the Afghan mission at the annual Labour Party conference, saying five million children were in school, many new schools, clinics and hospitals had been built and four million refugees were home.

"This is not a failing mission," Browne said. "We always knew the south would be more difficult ... but we have to tackle Helmand and the south - and eventually the east - if we are to secure what we have already achieved in the rest of Afghanistan."

British troops have been fighting intense battles with the Taleban in Helmand. More than 30 British soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan this year.

Among those killed in the blast in Helmand were six policemen and soldiers, officials said.

Nearly 140 foreign soldiers have been killed in violence or accidents this year.

- REUTERS