Suicide bomber kills five in Kabul
A suicide blast claimed by the Taliban killed at least five people and injured several others in north Kabul yesterday in an attack that appeared to target Afghan soldiers collecting their salaries from a nearby bank.
It came four days after an attack on a Shiite mosque in west Kabul killed at least 24 worshippers. That attack was claimed by ISIL.
Yesterday’s bomb went off outside a building housing several banks, including the privately-owned Kabul Bank, which is used by the Afghan army to pay soldiers’ salaries. The building is less than 200 metres from the US embassy.
“I live close to the site of the explosion, and was at home when I heard several gunshots followed by the loud boom around 10am,” local resident Sadia Tajali said.
“They were so loud and close that for a moment I thought the attack was taking place in my living room.”
Immediately after, warning alarms went off at the US embassy, she said, and that she saw the Afghan security forces taking another suspect into custody.
“There was a lot of smoke coming from the banks – that’s when I started taking photos and noticed that the police were arresting another man.”
Interior ministry spokesman Najib Danish said five people were killed, including a guard, and eight civilians were hurt.
Mohammad Salim Rasouli, chief of Kabul hospitals at the health ministry, confirmed the death toll but said nine people had been wounded.
A Twitter account associated with Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid claimed the attack, saying it had targeted troops collecting their salaries from Kabul Bank.
With the blast striking at the end of the month and two days ahead of Eid Al Adha, the building housing the banks was also crowded with civilians withdrawing their salaries.
It is not the first time the Taliban has targeted banks on payday or ahead of religious festivals.
Before this year’s Eid Al Fitr in June, the movement hit the Kabul Bank branch in Lashkargah, the capital of southern Helmand province, with a car bomb. At least 29 people died in that attack, most of them Afghan security forces, while 50 were injured.
The same bank branch was targeted by militants in December 2014 while it was crowded with servicemen collecting their salaries. At least 10 people were killed.
Allah Gul Kamawal, a 32-yearold soldier who has been with the Afghan army since 2006, survived a similar attack that targeted a branch of Kabul Bank in the eastern city of Jalalabad in April 2015.
“Jalalabad looked like the city of the dead that day. A lot of innocent people were killed, civilians as well as police and army soldiers who were there to withdraw their salaries,” he said.
“I survived but it’s not a scene I can ever forget.”
Mr Kamawal has served on many front lines across the
country, but admitted that he now avoids going to banks whereever possible.
“I avoid banks in big cities or regions with high threats. I’d rather borrow from friends and family than go risk my life for a few thousand Afghanis,” he said.
It would greatly help soldiers, he said, if Kabul Bank had in place mobile payment teams who could deliver salaries to account-holders in areas prone to attacks.
“If perhaps they could travel to vulnerable regions, maybe valuable lives of my brave colleagues wouldn’t be sacrificed while running a bank errand,” he said.
Attempts to contact a Kabul Bank representative for a comment on the high frequency of attacks targeting its branches were unsuccessful.
The Afghan government said it recognised the pattern in attacks and has taken some measures to provide alternative means of payment to servicemen.
“We realise that the police and army are a sensitive target and many of our bases and police headquarters are equipped with bank branches, to help facilitate safer transactions,” said government spokesperson Javid Faisal.
He said that the government may consider increasing the number of branches from which members of the security forces can withdraw salaries.
“When the terrorists know they are losing in the battlefield, they spare no opportunity to attack civilians and our infrastructure; whether it’s schools, banks, parks, roads, mosques – they are attempting to hit us everywhere,” he said. “But we will persist.”