Kabul: In one of the biggest blasts that rock the war-torn city, at least 103 people were killed and 158 others injured when an explosives-packed ambulance blew up in a crowded area of Kabul last week. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the assault which triggered chaotic scenes as terrified survivors fled the area scattered with body parts, blood and debris, and hospitals were overwhelmed by the large number of wounded.
The attack came days after a 15-hour siege by the militants at the Intercontinental Hotel in Kabul that left scores dead, including 14 foreigners. On Saturday, hospitals overflowed with the wounded, and forensic workers at the morgue struggled to identify the dead. The large casualty toll was another reminder of how badly Afghanistan is bleeding. Over the past year, about 10,000 of the country’s security forces have been killed and more than 16,000 others wounded, according to a senior Afghan government official. The Taliban losses are believed to be about the same.
United Nations’s data suggests an average of about 10 civilians were killed every day over the first nine months of 2017. The surge in violence across the country, particularly deadly attacks that have shut down large parts of cities, comes at a time when the country’s government has been in political disarray.
President Ashraf Ghani has struggled to build consensus and has recently found himself in a protracted political showdown with a regional strongman, a dispute that has taken up much of administration’s energy. The strongman, Atta Muhammad Noor, a powerful governor, was fired by the president but has refused to leave his post, raising fears that the escalating political tensions could further undermine the country’s fragile security.
The explosion occurred on a guarded street that leads to an old interior ministry building and several embassies, officials said. Many ministry departments still have offices there, and visitors line up every day for routine business. “I saw a flame that blinded my eyes, then I went unconscious,” said Nazeer, 45, who was wounded in the head. “When I opened my eyes, I saw bodies lying on the ground.”
“It’s a massacre,” said Dejan Panic, the coordinator in Afghanistan for the Italian aid group Emergency, which runs a nearby trauma center. At least 131 people were brought to the group’s Kabul hospital. According to Baseer Mujahid, a spokesman for the Kabul police, the bomber drove past the first checkpoint at the entrance to the street. “Police stopped the vehicle at the second checkpoint,” Mujahid said. “Then he tried to drive in from the wrong lane. Again, the police tried to stop him. But he detonated the explosive-laden vehicle.” Many of the buildings and shops on the street were shattered, their windows blown out.
IS attacks military academy, 11 killed
Islamic State militants attacked Afghan soldiers guarding a military academy in Kabul on Monday, killing at least 11 troops and wounding 16. The attack, which began before dawn and continued well past daybreak, was the latest in a wave of relentless violence in Kabul this month unleashed by the Taliban and the rival Islamic State group that has killed scores and left hundreds wounded. Defence ministry spokesman Dawlat Waziri said a suicide bomber struck the military unit guarding the academy, setting off a gunbattle. Two of the attackers were killed in the gunbattle, two detonated their suicide vests and one was arrested by the troops, he said. Waziri confirmed that 11 soldiers were killed at the site of an attack outside Marshal Fahim University in Kabul. At least five insurgents were involved in the assault. Two of the attackers were killed in gunbattle, two detonated their suicide vests and one was arrested by the troops. He said “the attack was against an army unit providing security for the academy and not the academy itself.”
