CURRENT EVENT # 5

A few days ago Taliban militants stopped a bus on Afghanistan’s huge highway which is located in a very dangerous location of the country due to many accidents bombings killing many innocent bystanders. 50 people were on the bus that is noted in this article and 27 of them were killed. Investigated by specialists, there is was said to be no soldiers aboard yet all the victims were civilians. The bus traveling behind another, watched the bus it was trailing behind get shot at killing a young child before the second bus was attacked. With such discreprency on how many were killed, the information was not released till today, Sunday, October 19, 2008. With the death toll changing quite frequently, first 27 then 31 then 24, the count was discussed at a news conference concluding that the final number was 24, ages ranging from 20 to 25 (Although there is no accurate way to independently verify the number of victims traveling on the bus). With such confusion about the attack, the Taliban want to keep it a secret that they arrested innocent Afghan civilians for a connection with the attack. Taliban attacks have noticeably increased throughout this year in eastern and southern Afghanistan killing more than 5100 people.