Dec. 2 Photo Brief: Napoleon letter sold for 150,000 euros, bird lovers versus squirrels, National Traffic Safety Day, Burquoi
Napoleon letter in which he vows to blow up the Kremlin sold for 150,000 euros, on-going war between bird lovers and squirrels rages on, National Traffic Safety Day, Burquoi exhibit and more in today’s daily brief.
- A Congolese national police officer carries her child after disembarking from a boat at the port in the city of Goma, in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, on December 2, 2012. After M23 rebels pulled out of Goma yesterday, 166 government police officers arrived this morning from Bukavu. (Phil Moore/AFP/Getty Images)
- A Soyuz rocket lifts off from a base in Kourou, French Guiana, on December 2, 2012. The Soyuz rocket was carrying the 2nd satellite for the Pleiades earth observation system developed by the CNES (National Centre for Space Studies), the French government’s space agency. (JM Guillon/AFP/Getty Images)
- History enthusiasts dressed as soldiers take part in a re-enactment of Napoleon’s 1805 Battle of Austerlitz near the South Moravian city of Slavkov on December 1, 2012. (Michal Cizek/AFP/Getty Images)
- A photo taken on October 31, 2012 in Paris, shows a coded letter signed by French Emperor Napoleon Ier. The document, in which Napoleon vows to blow up the Kremlin, was sold at auction for 150,000 euros December 2, 2012, on the anniversary day of Austerlitz battle and Napoleon’s coronation. (Kenzo Tribouillard/AFP/Getty Images)
- A man recieves medical attention after rioters clashed with police officers outside of the Congress building before the inauguration ceremony of incoming Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto on December 1, 2012, in Mexico City. Pena Nieto was sworn in as president of Mexico on Saturday following protests by leftist lawmakers inside the congress and clashes between demonstrators and police outside. (Pedro Pardo/AFP/Getty Images)
- Activists of the animal-rights group AnimaNaturalis protest naked covered with fake blood against the use of fur in the textil industry in Madrid on December 2, 2012. (Pierre-Philippe Marcou/AFP/Getty Images)
- A Hamas security officer blow fire during a graduation ceremony in the destroyed Al-Saraya headquarters in Gaza City on December 2, 2012. (Mahmud Hams/AFP/Getty Images)
- People gather on December 1, 2012 at the site of a Ilyushin cargo plane that crashed late on Nov. 30, 2012 at Brazzaville airport. The plane which was trying to land in a storm near the airport killed about 30 people as it skidded off the runway into houses and a bar in the Congolese capital before crashing into a ravine. The crew, three-four people were thought to have died in the ensuing fire, while another 20 people were injured in the crash and taken to nearby hospitals, witnesses said. (Guy Gervais/AFP/Getty Images)
- In this multiple exposed photo, Salisbury Cathedral is illuminated by trails of candles carried by choristers during the annual ‘darkness to light’ advent procession on December 1, 2012 in Salisbury, England. (Matt Cardy/Getty Images)
- A visitor of the exhibition ‘Burquoi’ of Naneci Yurdaguel, wearing a burka is pictured at the art gallery Nassauischer Kunstverein Wiesbaden in Wiesbaden, December 2, 2012. The exhibition, named ‘Burquoi’, a wordplay of the words burka and the French ‘pourquoi’ ‘why’ can be visited and experienced by the visitors only in a burka. (Ralph Orlowski/Reuters)
- Members of the LGBT community take part in the Bangalore Queer Pride Parade 2012 on December 2, 2012. The march marks the end of the annual 10-day Bengaluru Pride and Karnataka Queer Habba 2012. (Manjunath Kiran/AFP/Getty Images)
- Students wearing bandages hold signboards as they act as drunk drivers and passengers during an action art performance in Liaocheng, Shandong province, December 1, 2012, one day ahead of the first National Traffic Safety Day on Sunday. (China Daily/Reuters)
- A man uses a snow blower to clear a small road leading to his farm in Saleby, outside Skara in southwestern Sweden on December 1, 2012. The Swedish Transport Administration had difficulties clearing all roads and had to focus on main roads after an unusually heavy snowfall in the area. (Bjorn Larsson/AFP/Getty Images)
- Skiers are seen on a cable car above the fog on December 1, 2012 in the Titlis mountain above Engelberg, Central Switzerland. (Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Getty Images)
- Afghan security forces arrive at the site of an attack in Jalalabad December 2, 2012. Suicide attackers detonated bombs and fired rockets outside a major U.S. base in Afghanistan on Sunday, killing five people in a brazen operation that highlighted the country’s security challenges ahead of the 2014 NATO combat troop pullout. (Parwiz/Reuters)
- A red squirrel reaches for a birdfeeder hung from a wire to get the seeds December 1, 2012 in Hudson, Wisconsin. The battle goes on year round as bird lovers try various techniques to keep the squirrels from robbing the feeders and scaring the birds away. (Karen Bleier/AFP/Getty Images)
- Laborers work on an under-construction pontoon bridge spanning the river Ganga ahead of the “Kumbh Mela”, or Pitcher Festival, as the sun sets in the northern Indian city of Allahabad December 2, 2012. (Jitendra Prakash/Reuters)
- A man holds a dead pheasant, which he shot during a pheasant hunt in Lewknor, southern England November 22, 2012. Pheasant shooting has been a major historical activity in Great Britain since the 11th century when they were shot with a bow and arrow. (Eddie Keogh/Reuters)
- Crows sit on the poles of a snow fence near Hutttenwang, southern Germany, on December 2, 2012. (Kal-Josef Hildenbrand/AFP/Getty Images)
Suicide bombers attack U.S. base in Afghanistan
Rafiq Shirzad | Reuters
3:19 a.m. EST, December 2, 2012
JALALABAD, Afghanistan (Reuters) – Suicide attackers detonated bombs and fired rockets outside a major U.S. base in Afghanistan on Sunday, killing five people in a brazen operation that highlighted the country’s security challenges ahead of the 2014 NATO combat troop pullout.
Local police officials said bodies in Afghan police and military uniforms were scattered around the entrance of the airfield in the eastern city of Jalalabad after a two-hour battle. A Taliban spokesman said the militant group had launched the 6 a.m. assault.
The Taliban, who have been fighting U.S.-led NATO and Afghan forces for more than a decade, sometimes dress in uniforms for attacks.
Two suicide bombers died after blowing themselves up in cars, said Nasir Ahmad Safi, a spokesman for the provincial government.
Seven other bombers were killed in the a gunbattle with Afghan and coalition forces. Three Afghan soldiers and two civilians also died, said Safi.
U.S. helicopters circled overhead.
“There were multiple suicide bombers involved,” said Major Martyn Crighton, a spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).
Several coalition troops were wounded, he said.