and one last thing...
 

The floor of the van is actually pushed UP in the supposed blast area. How does a bomb do that?

Looks like a...
 

VW Van.

I love Volkswagens! :)

peace,

mh

"up and to the left, (indicates with pointer) up and to the left." Thats one magic mortar.

I believe there is a second shooter.

Two words: "grassy knoll"

I think among other things the van rolled onto the passenger side and was righted. Might have been a near miss, might have been a hit with a solid (nonexploding) object, might have been an ordinary collision.

So, does anyone still believe the mortar story? Just curious.

The press says magic mortar, I believe magic mortar. Say has that guy got a mustard stain...

Given the cause of the wars over there, perhaps greasy knoll is more apt. But thing I'm most curious about is -- is that even his van? For some reason, I get the impression that someone else had the accident; then these guys found the van and drove it away.

Why else would they be lying about the damage? I mean, other than the fact that ramming into a concrete abutment and squishing your passenger can be rather embarrasing.

-B

I found a picture of the same van from the front.

http://cellar.org/pictures/frontofvan.jpg

Because it makes a much better story, and gets the news photog to give them more money for the shot. What preess agency is going to run a photo "van that Afghan guy ran into something" as opposed to "plucky afghan man gives thumbs up from his battle-damaged van"

Thanks to Tony for finding the second photo. The shredding of the passenger-side grille area looks a bit more like a mortar or RPG hit. Still nothing that looks scorched, though. I wonder if somebody was driving rapidly *away* from a mortar barrage and ran it into a rock overhang in the mountains? I know there's no moutains in the pic, but I saw film of a van crossing into Pakistan that we were told had plates on it from Mazar e Sharif.

Maybe thr roof work was done by "Omar's Sunroofs"?

Could also be the news guy just made the story up himself.