Taliban kill 15 Afghan soldiers in attack on top training centre
At least 15 Afghan soldiers were killed in Kabul yesterday when an attacker rammed a car full of explosives into a bus at the top military training centre.
Taliban insurgents claimed responsibility for the attack, the second suicide bombing in Kabul in 24 hours and the seventh major assault in Afghanistan since Tuesday.
ISIL claimed responsibility for a suicide attack in the Afghan capital on Friday evening in which a bomber walked into a Shiite Muslim mosque as people were praying.
The toll from the Imam Zaman mosque rose to 54 dead, including children, and 55 wounded.
Meanwhile, ministry of defence spokesman Dawlat Wazari said four were wounded in yesterday’s attack on the soldiers.
“Army personnel were coming out of Marshal Fahim University when a suicide bomber in a car targeted them,” Mr Wazari said.
President Ashraf Ghani’s office said the bus was carrying trainers and cadets from the defence university on the western outskirts of Kabul.
Afghan security forces have been struggling against the Taliban since most foreign troops left at the end of 2014.
US president Donald Trump committed to an open-ended military training and support mission in Afghanistan in August, despite criticism that the country is no closer to peace despite billions of dollars in aid and nearly 16 years of US and allied operations.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for yesterday’s attack. The militants have been waging an insurgency for a decade
This is absolutely barbarism. They are attacking worshippers at the time of prayers. Even mosques are not safe IBRAHIM Witness
and a half in an attempt to overthrow the western-backed government in Kabul and re-establish a fundamentalist regime.
The insurgents now control or contest about 40 per cent of Afghanistan.
Nato’s Resolute Support mission in Afghanistan tweeted that the assault on the army trainees was an “attack on the future” of the country and its security forces.
“This attack in Kabul shows the insurgents are desperate and cannot win”, it said.
About 600 Afghan security forces, including police, were being killed each month in battles and bombings this year, a US report said.
This week’s toll was particularly heavy for Afghan forces after attacks across the country, including some where Taliban fighters used captured US Humvee vehicles as bombs to ram into fortified compounds.
On Thursday, the Taliban stormed a military base in the southern province of Kandahar, killing at least 43 of the 60 soldiers manning the base, which was left in ruins.
Two days earlier, dozens of security personnel were killed and scores wounded in Taliban attacks on government compounds in Paktia and Ghazni provinces, with a police commander among the dead.
In recent years, Afghanistan has experienced a rise in violence claimed by fighters who have professed loyalty to the ISIL’s Middle East-based leadership, although the movement controls little territory in Afghanistan.
After Friday night’s mosque attack, citizens expressed anger at the government’s inability to protect its citizens in Kabul, the scene of nearly 20 per cent of civilian deaths in the first half of the year.
“If our government officials cannot protect us they have to resign and let other competent officials take charge,” a witness said.
Others described scenes after the attack.
“The windows of the mosque were broken, and blood and human flesh were spattered everywhere and you could smell blood and human flesh inside the mosque,” said Ibrahim.
“This is absolutely barbarism. What kind of Islam is this? They are attacking worshippers at the time of prayers. Even mosques are not safe for us to pray.”
Another mosque attack on Friday killed 33 people in central Ghor province.