Kabul blames outsiders for Kandahar blast
(Islah) The Afghan government has said that foreigners might well have been behind a deadly bomb attack in the southern province of Kandahar last Monday. “Though the investigation is ongoing, preliminary results indicate that the suicide attacker was a foreigner,” presidential spokesman Jawed Ludin told journalists at a press conference on Tuesday. US military sources report that four American soldiers were wounded in the explosion, though government officials have disputed the claim and have put the number of casualties at five dead. Ludin’s suggestions of foreign involvement came despite the fact that the Taleban have claimed responsibility for the attack. “Foreign enemies have been creating problems for Afghanistan over the past 30 years and terrorists come from across the border,” Ludin noted.
Islah is a state-run daily published mostly in Dari

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Fighting on Kandahar-Urozgan border
(The Kabul Times) Fighting between some 90 suspected Taleban rebels and hundreds of Afghan soldiers and US-led coalition troops on the border between the southern provinces of Kandahar and Urozgan has seven insurgents dead and 10 wounded. The clash broke out on Tuesday after the rebels attacked a joint Afghan-coalition patrol, army commander General Muslim Amid said. Four Afghan soldiers were wounded in the battle, which ended with insurgents fleeing with their injured into nearby mountains, he said. Troops pursued the rebels into the mountains and were still hunting them on Wednesday, Amid added.
The Kabul Times is a state-run newspaper published in English every other day

Seven Afghans freed from Pakistan jail include two senior Taleban figures
(Erada) Seven Afghan nationals, including two senior members of the Taleban, were released from the central jail in Peshawar on Wednesday. Among those freed was Mullah Suleman, who found fame in the past as a commander for the then governor of Nangarhar, Maulvi Kabir. Also amongst them was Mullah Yahya who was administrative chief of the Khewa and Darinoor district when the Taleban were in power. The Peshawar high court received bonds worth 200,000 Pakistani rials, around 3,350 US dollars, from each of the seven men, who were arrested last year on suspicion of having links with the Taleban, a court official said.
Erada is an independent daily run by the Afghan Media and Resource Centre

Diarrhoea cases on the rise in Kabul
(Outlook) Cases of diarrhoea are on the rise in Kabul, with up to 500 registered in the last two days alone, health officials announced on Wednesday. A day earlier, health minister Mohammad Amin Fatimi confirmed that about 24,000 cases of diarrhoea and vomiting had been detected in the city in the last month. Dr. Abdullah Fahim, spokesman for the public health ministry, also reported 33 cases of cholera. Another doctor, Mohammad Saboor Sabir, stressed that cholera is a fatal illness and must be cured in time. He recommended the use of hygienic food and water to avoid both cholera and diarrhoea.
Outlook is an independent daily published in English

Suspected kidnappers of UN workers held in Afghanistan
(Hewad) Officials of the National Intelligence Directorate have caught four men suspected of kidnapping three UN workers in Kabul last year. The men have apparently confessed to the October 28 abduction of Annetta Flanigan from Northern Ireland, Kosovan Shqipe Hebibi and Filipino Diplomat Angelito Nayan. They have also talked about their relationship with Taleban leaders, foreign intelligence organizations and the Taleban splinter group Jaish-e-Muslimeen, an official said.
Hewad is a state-run daily published mostly in Pashto