At least 43 killed in Kabul govt compound attack

KABUL: An hours-long gun and suicide attack on a Kabul government compound killed at least 43 people, the health ministry said Tuesday, making it one of the deadliest assaults on the Afghan capital this year.

No militant group has claimed responsibility for the raid, which caps a bloody year for Afghanistan as long-suffering civilians and security forces are slaughtered in record numbers.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid told AFP the attack had “nothing to do with the militants”.

Another 25 people were wounded in Monday’s massacre on a site where the Ministry of Public Works and an office that handles pensions and benefits for war veterans are located, spokesman Waheed Majroh said.

Gunmen stormed the compound mid-afternoon after detonating a car bomb at the main entrance – opposite residential apartment buildings – sending terrified people running for their lives. Some jumped from windows several floors high to escape the militants.

The suicide blast appears to have been a decoy, according to witnesses who told AFP they saw several militants enter the compound through a back gate. Hundreds were trapped inside the compound for hours as heavily armed security forces swarmed the area, engaging the attackers in a fierce gun battle punctuated by multiple explosions.

At least four militants, including the bomber, were killed and more than 350 people freed, officials said. Most of the dead and wounded were civilians, who have borne the brunt of the 17year war.

It was the deadliest assault in the Afghan capital since a suicide bomber blew himself up in the middle of a religious gathering last month, killing at least 55 people.