Violence in Afghanistan Surges; Taliban Commits Deadliest Attack Since 2001
The Taliban has claimed responsibility for a suicide bomber who blew up a bus transporting police recruits in Afghanistan yesterday. The attack killed 35 people, the Los Angeles Times reports, making it the deadliest bombing since US-led forces overthrew the Taliban in December 2001. At least 35 other people were wounded in the attack.
Since Friday, at least 14 other people were killed in four other suicide bombing incidents. Mullah Dadullah, a top Taliban commander who was killed during a US military operation in May, had warned in March that there would be a surge in suicide bombings and attacks, mirroring al Qaeda's methods in Iraq. "The suicide martyrs, those willing to blow themselves up, are countless," Dadullah stated, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Amid the violence, Afghan women and girls are particularly targeted. In the past two weeks, two women reporters -- one of whom was a headmaster at a girls' school -- were murdered. Last week, two gunmen opened fire outside a girls' school, killing two girls and wounding six others.
6/18/2013 Supreme Court Strikes Down Proof of Citizenship Voter Requirements - On Monday, the United States Supreme Court struck down an Arizona law requiring voters to provide proof of citizenship before being allowed register to vote.
In an opinion written [PDF] by Justice Antonin Scalia, the Court ruled that the Arizona statute violated the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA, also known as the "Motor Voter Law") of 1993, which created a federal form that individuals can mail in to register to vote in federal elections. . . .
6/18/2013 Pakistani Women's University Bus, Hospital Bombed - A bus for a women's university in Pakistan and the hospital that treated victims from the blast were bombed on Saturday, killing 14 students and 24 others at the hospital.
The bus was transporting female students and teachers from Sardar Bahadur Khan Women's University in Quetta, located in the southwestern part of Pakistan. . . .
6/18/2013 Taliban Attack In Afghan Capital As NATO Transfers Power - Yesterday, NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) transferred responsibility for the country's security forces to the Afghan government after a bomb blast targeting a political official left three civilians dead in Kabul. . . .
