Now, Taliban use bird bomb in Afghanistan

Kabul, Dec 2: Terrorists the world over are known to deploy suicide bombers, or "human bombs", to wreak death and devastation on their targets, but have you ever heard of a bird being used as a suicide bomber?

The Taliban seem to be using such a strategy and the Afghan police reportedly shot dead a bird which had been equipped by the terrorists with an explosive pouch, a GPS tracker and a detonator.

The bird had several wires protruding from its feathers, a mobile phone detonator and a specially designed ‘suicide vest', the Daily Mail reported Monday.

Alert officers spotted the suspicious-looking bird in the Faryab province in the north of the country, near the border with Turkmenistan and their suspicions increased as the large bird is not known to be native to the area.

The bird exploded when it was shot and "suspicious metal stuff" was scattered around, Abdul Nabi Ilham of the Afghan police told NBC News in an interview, which the Daily Mail cited.

Ilham added: "We are gathering all the stuff, but (we have) found parts of what looks to be GPS and a small camera." The success in Faryab province comes as the Afghan district police chief in Helmand province, Ahmadullah Anwari, complained that his officers were suffering from major weapon and equipment shortages.

As most foreign combat troops prepare to leave Afghanistan by the end of 2014, after 13 years of war, the experiences of Anwari and other police chiefs, and army commanders across the country are NATO's biggest worry.

The US, which provides the bulk of NATO troops in Afghanistan, has poured some $61 billion into training a 350,000-strong security force. Taliban fighters had recently entered Camp Bastion, a large base in the southern Helmand province handed over to Afghan troops a month ago by the withdrawing US and British forces.

It took Afghan soldiers three days to drive the insurgents out. The Taliban also targeted a foreign guesthouse in western Kabul last Saturday. The attack was the latest in a string of bombings that have targeted dozens of military and civilian installations in Kabul over the past couple of weeks.

IANS