Taleban claims responsibility for explosion that killed Finnish peacekeeper

Finnish government planning report on Afghan operation

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The hard-line Islamist Taleban movement claimed responsibility on Thursday for Wednesday's roadside bomb attack in Maimana in the north of Afghanistan, in which a Finnish member of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and a local resident were killed.
      Lieutenant Colonel Ali Mättölä says that he was informed by local media sources that the Taleban had said that it was behind the bombing. "Next we will try to find out if there is anything behind the claim.
      Mättölä says that Taleban forces have not been operating in the Maimana area before, but that there are probably other groups in the area with contacts with the Taleban, and who might be working on their behalf.
     
Mättölä feels that it is possible that the Taleban really might be behind the attack; he has learned that small groups that are close to the Taleban have become more active in the north of Afghanistan.
      "In the last couple of explosion situations in the area, the detonation mechanisms have been the kind that local field commanders and criminals might not use. Therefore, there may be a kernel of truth to the Taleban announcement."
      A 122 mm. artillery shell was used in Wednesday's attack. It was probably detonated by radio remote control. The explosive was hidden in an oil barrel.
      Finnish forces learned on Wednesday that a similar attack was launched against the police chief of Pashton Kot, which is located in the same province. He apparently made it through the attack with few injuries.
      On Sunday an attempted bombing took place against a Norwegian patrol, in which the explosive failed to ignite.
     
Afghanistan expert Christian Jokinen at the University of Turku feels that it is unlikely that the Taleban would have been the perpetrators of Wednesday's attack.
      "The Taleban have been very eager to take responsibility for all possible things. However, it is not completely impossible. They might have done it to show that they are capable of operating throughout the country."
      Local security officials are leading the search for the perpetrators.
      "We are closely following the progress of the investigation. Local conditions are such that it is difficult to say if the investigation will ever lead to a concrete final result.
     
The body of sergeant Petri Immonen was moved from Maimana to Kabul on Thursday with military honours. From Kabul the body will be repatriated early next week, says Colonel Mauri Koskela of the International Centre of the Finnish Defence Forces.
     
Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen (Centre) promised on Thursday that the government is ready to consider presenting a report on the Afghan peacekeeping operation to the full Parliament. However, Vanhanen first wants to hear the views of the Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee on whether or not it wants a report to Parliament.
      Calling for a report to Parliament during Thursday's Parliamentary Question Time was Annika Lapintie, chair of the Parliamentary group of the opposition Left Alliance. The party had called for the same thing in the autumn, when the ISAF peacekeeping operation began to take on the character of an open war in the south of Afghanistan.
      The chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Pertti Salolainen (Nat. Coalition Party) noted after Question Time that the committee had been given the information that it needed on the operation, but that it might be good for the whole Parliament to debate the issue.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Identity of Finnish victim of Afghan roadside bomb attack released (24.5.2007)
  Finnish peacekeeper killed in Afghanistan (23.5.2007)

Helsingin Sanomat