Taleban kill 44 in suicide attack on courtroom

NINE Taleban suicide bombers killed themselves and 44 others in an attack on a courtroom in western Afghanistan where ten insurgents were on trial.The civilian death toll is the highest in a single attack since 2011.

The bombers strapped explosives to themselves before storming the governor’s compound in the capital of Farah province, bordering Iran, where the trial was taking place.

Thirty-four of the dead were civilians, the rest were Afghan security force personnel. The Taleban claimed all ten fighters standing trial escaped.

“We sent several warnings to those in the Farah government, telling them not to work there,” a spokesman said.

The attack will add to concerns about how Afghan security forces will manage once Nato-led combat troops withdraw by the end of next year.

Farah province, where US and Italian troops are stationed, saw a sharp deterioration in security last year, with increased targeting of government officials and a regrouping of insurgent networks, according to the Afghanistan Analysts Network (AAN).

The vast distances between towns in Farah, sandwiched between Helmand and Herat, may allow for more Taleban gains, AAN reported last month.

Civilian casualties in the Nato-led war, now in its 12th year, decreased in 2012 after rising for five years, said the United Nations. More than 80 per cent of civilian casualties are caused by insurgents.

The last major attack inflicting a high civilian death toll was in July last year, when a suicide bomber killed an anti-Taleban politician and 22 other guests at a wedding in Samangan province. In December 2011, bombers struck Shiite Muslim religious observances in Kabul, killing ­58 people in multiple attacks.