At Least 16 Killed In Helmand Bombing

August 28, 2006 -- A suicide bomber has killed at least 16 people in Lashkar Gah, the provincial capital of Afghanistan's southern Helmand Province.

At least 30 people were wounded.


Regional authorities say the bomber walked into a crowded market opposite a police station before blowing himself up. No other details are immediately available.


(AP, AFP)

Opium In Afghanistan

Opium In Afghanistan
An antidrug billboard in Kabul shows a skeleton hanging from an opium bulb (AFP)

OPIUM FARMING ON THE RISE Despite a nationwide program by the Afghan government to eradicate opium-poppy fields and offer farmers alternative crops, international experts say that the 2006 opium crop will be as much as 40 percent larger than the previous year's. Afghanistan is the largest producer of opium in the world, and the source of as much as 90 percent of Europe's heroin.(more)


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