Car Bomb Kills Nine in Afghanistan as Koran-Burning Violence Continues
Less than a week after the NATO Koran burning incident at Bagram Air Base, a suicide car bomber attacked Jalalabad airport on Monday and killed nine. Though Reuters reports that there hasn't been an official indication that the explosion was linked to the deadly protests in the past week, the Taliban has already claimed responsibility. Though Reuters notes that the airport is primarily used by NATO and U.S. officials, NATO said that it had no reports of members of international forces among the casualties. "This attack is revenge against those soldiers who burned our Koran," said a Taliban spokesman in the BBC's report, which details that more than 30 people have been killed in the wake of last week's protests.
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This past weekend, Ambassador Ryan Crocker revealed that the U.S. had no intention of backing down even though the anti-American sentiment rages and top advisers had been pulled out of Kabul. "This is not the time to decide that we’re done here," said Crocker in an AP report on Sunday. "If we decide we’re tired of it, al-Qaeda and the Taliban certainly aren’t."
