Suicide car bomber kills 30 Afghan security personnel
ghazni — A suicide car bomber struck an army base in Afghanistan on Sunday killing at least 30 security personnel, officials said, in one of the bloodiest attacks targeting government forces in recent months.
The attack occurred on the outskirts of Ghazni city, capital of the eastern province of Ghazni, which has seen regular fighting between the Taleban and government forces. It came as the government and Taleban are engaged in peace talks to end the war in the impoverished country that has killed tens of thousands of people in nearly two decades.
“Thirty bodies and 24 wounded people have been brought to hospital. All of them are security personnel,” Baz Mohammad Hemat, director of Ghazni hospital, said.
Interior ministry spokesman Tariq Arian said a suicide bomber had detonated a vehicle full of explosives. “The bomber drove a Humvee vehicle right inside the base and detonated it,” Ghazni governor spokesman Wahidullah Jumazada said. The base is located on a vast swathe of arid land surrounded by mountains.
Video footage showed military ambulances taking the dead and wounded to hospitals and cranes deployed to remove debris from
the site of the attack in the base.
The ministry of defence gave a toll of 10 security personnel killed and seven wounded. The ministry is known to downplay tolls in attacks against its forces.
No group has so far claimed responsibility.
The Ghazni attack comes just days after two bombs killed 14 people in the historic city of Bamiyan, ending years of calm in the isolated town famous for its ancient Buddhist heritage.
In another suicide car bomb attack on Sunday, one civilian was killed and 20 others wounded in the southern city of Qalat in the province of Zabul, provincial police chief Hekmatullah Kochi said.
He said the attack targeted the vehicle of Zabul provincial council chief, Atta Jan Haqbayan, who was wounded. Sunday’s bombings marked the latest carnage, where violence has surged since the start of peace talks on September 12 in Doha.—