Massive suicide bomb kills 40 in northern Afghanistan

Holy day marred

A suicide bomber detonated his explosives outside a mosque as worshippers were leaving after finishing prayers for Eid al-Adha in Maymana, the capital of the northern Afghan province of Faryab, killing at least 40 and wounding dozens more (BBC, AP, LAT, Guardian, CNN, NYT, WSJ). Authorities said both civilians and police officers were killed in the attack.

A man wearing an Afghan Army uniform shot and killed two U.S. Special Operations soldiers in Uruzgan Province on Thursday, a day after Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar called on Afghan security forces to continue attacking their NATO counterparts (Reuters, AFP, LAT, WSJ, AP, CNN). The Taliban has reportedly taken responsibility for this latest insider attack (AP).

No stopping

The father of Malala Yousafzai, who was shot in the head by a Taliban gunman and is now recovering in the United Kingdom, said Thursday that she will return home to Pakistan when she is done receiving treatment, despite Taliban threats to target her again (AP, ET). She plans to sit for her final exams in Swat, and asked her father Ziauddin Yousafzai to bring her schoolbooks to Britain so she can study.

Pakistani authorities on Friday said they had pinpointed Mullah Fazlullah’s movements in the Afghan border provinces of Nuristan and Kunar, rejecting the Afghan government’s claims that the former leader of the Swat Taliban, who reportedly ordered the attack on Malala, is not hiding in Afghanistan (The News). And gunmen in Swat killed two anti-Taliban tribal elders outside of a mosque late Thursday evening, heightening fears of a Taliban resurgence in the region (AFP). Bonus read: Daud Khattak, "Is Swat seeing a Taliban resurgence?" (FP).

Fearless friend

British soldiers on Thursday honored a bomb-sniffing springer spaniel that died in Afghanistan in March 2011 with the Dickin Medal, the highest award that animals can receive for bravery (AP). The dog, Theo, suffered a seizure on the same day that his human partner, Lance Cpl Liam Tasker, was killed in a firefight.

— Jennifer Rowland