Carmela Baranowska (1969 - )
JournalistBlasts at checkpoints in Afghan city kill one, injure 26
by Stephen Graham, APKabul, Afghanistan - Two bombs hidden in crates of fruit exploded yesterday at security checkpoints in the Afghan city of Jalalabad, killing a man and wounding 26 people, including five children.
The blasts occurred a few minutes apart, shattering the windows of nearby homes and shops in the city, 80 miles east of Kabul.
One man died at a hospital. Five police officers and five children were among the wounded, said Faizan, a spokesman for the provincial government who uses one name.
He blamed "enemies of the Afghan nation," meaning antigovernment operatives such as rebels from the ousted Taliban regime.
Hamed Agha, who claimed to be a Taliban spokesman, said the group was not involved. He blamed feuds among security officials.
On Friday, two female election workers were killed in a bus bombing in Jalalabad. A spokesman for the Taliban, which has vowed to disrupt the September vote, claimed responsibility for that attack.
Officials were searching yesterday for Carmela Baranowska, a journalist employed by the Australian broadcaster SBS.
Commander Chris Henderson, spokesman for NATO-led peace-keepers in Kabul, said they were working with Afghan authorities and the U.S. military to locate Baranowska, 35, at the request of SBS.
The journalist left a hotel in the southern city of Kandahar during the weekend with an Afghan assistant and driver. It was unclear where they were headed.
SBS spokesman Mike Field said Baranowska was contacted briefly by satellite phone yesterday, but the line broke and the company failed to reconnect with her.
In Canberra, a spokeswoman for the Australian Foreign Ministry said her government also was trying to track Baranowska down. She said there was no evidence the journalist had been kidnapped.
Abdul Hakim Latifi, another purported spokesman for the Taliban, said the group was not holding her.
Khalid Pashtun, a spokesman for Kandahar's governor, said Baranowska had not asked officials for advice on security beyond Kandahar city, which is patrolled by U.S. troops.
In neighboring Uruzgan province, suspected Taliban operatives stopped four supply trucks bound for a U.S. base, burning them and abducting 12 people, an official said. Uruzgan Gov. Jan Mohammed Khan said hundreds of Afghan troops combing the province's Char Cheno district had killed three Taliban fighters in a skirmish on Tuesday.
Source: Philadelphia Inquirer, July 1, 2004