8
Friday, January 30, 2004
Afghan explosion kills seven U.S. soldiers,
one of the heaviest tolls since war began
By Stephen Graham
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
KABUL, Afghanistan — An
explosion at a weapons cache in
killed seven U.S. soldiers and
wounded three more Thursday,
in one of the deadliest incidents
since U.S. forces deployed in
Afghanistan. The U.S. Central
Command also said an
American soldier was missing.
An Afghan interpreter also
was wounded by the 3 p.m.
explosion near the city of
Ghazni, 60 miles southwest of
the capital, Kabul. The soldiers
were working around a weapons
cache when the blast happened.
Centcom spokesman Capt.
Bruce Frame said the cause had
yet to be determined in the blast,
among the most damaging
blows to American troops since
they deployed in Afghanistan
more than two years ago.
The Taliban were driven
from power but sporadic fight
ing has continued. Earlier this
month, the U.S. death toll
reached 100. Sixteen of those
deaths occurred in combat —
including seven when two heli
copters took enemy fire in
March, 2002.
The toll includes deaths in
other areas of Operation
Enduring Freedom, such as a
helicopter crash in the
Philippines nearly two years ago
that killed 10 American soldiers
— the deadliest in the operation.
Seven soldiers were also killed
on Jan. 9, 2002 when their
tanker plane slammed into a
mountain in Pakistan.
The United States provides
9,000 of the 11,000-member
coalition troops stationed in
Afghanistan. The Army is prepar
ing a spring offensive against
Taliban and al-Qaida holdouts
amid concern that operations in
Afghanistan are not as effective in
breaking up terrorist networks as
they had hoped.
Separately, investigators sift
ed through evidence Thursday
from suicide bombings that
killed British and Canadian sol
diers in Kabul the two previous
days. The ousted Taliban regime
has claimed responsibility for
both blasts.
The cause of Thursday’s
weapons cache blast was not
immediately known. The
wounded soldiers were evacuat-
SOURCES: Associated Press; ESRI
ed to a hospital at Bagram Air
Base, headquarters for U.S.-led
coalition in Afghanistan.
The names of the victims
were being withheld pending
notification of relatives.
Troops at Camp Souter, the
British base in eastern Kabul,
held a memorial ceremony
Thursday for the soldier killed
the day before by a suicide
bomber. The victim was identi
fied as Pvt. Jonathan
Kitulagoda, 23, from Plymouth
in southwest England.
Commanders and diplomats
joined about 150 soldiers to hear
readings, prayers and tributes
from Kitulagoda’s friends in a
private gathering, said Capt.
Tom Smith, spokesman for the
300-strong British contingent.
Kitulagoda’s body likely will be
fiown home next week, he said.
Kitulagoda was killed when
a suicide bomber detonated a
yellow-and-white taxi next to
an open-topped British Land
Rover jeep. Four other British
soldiers were wounded. The
attack came a day after a
Canadian soldier was killed in
a similar suicide attack.
Investigators pored over evi
dence from the two suicide
bombings. Afghan police said
they identified the original
owner of the taxi.
“We have a name and an
address,” said Mohammed
Haroon Asefi, a senior police
commander at the Interior
Ministry. He said no one had
been arrested and he refused to
release any other details.
Kabul police boosted securi
ty in the city in response to the
attacks. Officials said they had
more uniformed men on the
sidewalks, more patrol cars on
the roads and extra undercover
officers moving among the
city’s 3 million residents.
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THE BATTALlI
Leaders
Continued from
grades and extra curricular activ
ities, his home should be here in
Aggieland, Lane said.
For the 2001-2002 school
year, more than 19,200 admis
sion applications from high
school seniors were sent to
A&M, while only 6,400 fresh
men were accepted for the 2001 -
02 year. In 2001, more than half
of the entering freshmen were
top 10 percent.
Ashley said 4 percent of admis
sions are set aside for out-of-state
students and 1 percent for interna
tional students. This leaves 95 per
cent open to Texas residents.
“In one way, I think it discredits
all of the other essential elements
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ricular activities,” said junior man
agement major NazerTaqvi, a stu
dent who was in the top 10 percent
in high school. “Obviously, the
system isn't perfect."
Taqvi said he believes the top
10 percent rule establishes a
standard that may be considered
discriminatory, but surely serves
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forward manner.
“It is a policy that will add to
the traditions at a school such as
Texas A&M, but may or may not
have the same effect on our
entering classes' admissions pro
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