Taliban Apologizes for ‘Mistake’ That Killed 15 Civilians

An official of Afghanistan’s ousted Taliban apologized Wednesday for a bomb attack in this southern city that killed at least 15 people, including eight children, saying it was a botched attempt to target U.S. troops.

“It was a mistake by our moujahedeen,” or holy warriors, a senior Taliban commander, Mullah Sabir Momin, said by satellite telephone.

“We wanted to target the Provincial Reconstruction Team office in the city, but because of a small mistake, this plan failed,” he said.

Hours after the blast, gunmen killed 12 Afghan civilians on a road in southern Helmand province, a spokesman for the provincial governor said. He blamed that attack on ethnic conflict.

The reconstruction teams that Momin cited are civilian-military groups, mostly under the umbrella of U.S.-led forces in the country, deployed to improve security and support reconstruction efforts. The team in Kandahar is under American command.

The ousted Islamic militia initially denied involvement in Tuesday’s blast, which occurred near a military compound as children were passing on their way home from school. Momin said U.S. and allied forces regularly passed along the route.

One person was arrested by Afghan authorities shortly after the explosion, but Momin said that he did not know the individual and that Taliban guerrillas had fled on motorcycles.

A statement from the U.S. military released late Tuesday pinned the blame for the attack firmly on the Taliban.

“This criminal attack reminds us that there are still elements of the former brutal and repressive regime committed to reversing the successes of the Afghan people,” it said.

Officials in Kandahar revised the death toll upward Wednesday and said at least eight children were among those killed; 50 people were injured.

U.S. forces scoured a town near the Pakistani border overnight for suspects in the bombing, a military spokesman said. The search focused on Spin Buldak, a town between Kandahar and the Pakistani frontier, Lt. Col. Bryan Hilferty said in an e-mail.

The dozen men attacked by gunmen Tuesday evening were in two cars near the town of Baghran, about 250 miles southwest of the capital, Kabul, said the governor’s spokesman, Mohammed Wali Alizai.

It was not clear who carried out the attack. But Alizai said the victims were all ethnic Hazaras in an area that is predominantly Pushtun, and that nothing was stolen from them.

“They are terrorists,” he said. “They want to create conflict between Hazaras and Pushtuns.”

Alizai said the governor had sent hundreds of troops to find those responsible.