Taliban and ISIL intensify attacks on Afghans, killing 23

At least 23 people, mostly soldiers, were killed and more than a dozen wounded in attacks and suicide bombings in Afghanistan yesterday.

The Defence Ministry said that in the biggest attack, Taliban militants stormed an army base in the western province of Farah overnight, killing at least 18 government soldiers.

Violence has intensified in Afghanistan since US President Donald Trump unveiled a more aggressive strategy in August, with US-led forces carrying out more air strikes and the Taliban responding with bombs, ambushes and raids.

The Taliban claimed responsibility and said two of their fighters were killed.

In another attack, a suicide bomber detonated his explosives near the diplomatic area of Kabul during the morning rush hour, killing at least three people and wounding five, the deputy interior ministry spokesman Nasrat Rahimi told AFP.

The blast was the latest in a spate of attacks in the capital, in which hundreds of people have been killed and wounded.

“At around 8.30am, a suicide bomber on foot, well-dressed with a necktie on, was identified at a checkpoint. He blew up his explosives,” Mr Rahimi said.

The capital has been on high alert since a Taliban suicide bomber blew up an explosive-packed ambulance on a busy street on January 27, killing more than 100 people and wounding at least 235.

A week earlier, militants killed more than 20 people, including four Americans, in a hotel. The Taliban also claimed that attack.

A security source said the explosion happened near a compound belonging to the National Directorate of Security, the Afghan intelligence agency. The NDS compound is near Nato headquarters and the US embassy.

In December, a suicide attacker killed at least six civilians in that area. ISIL claimed responsibility in a message on their Amaq news agency.

The insurgents’ Afghan affiliate, which first appeared near the border with Pakistan in 2015, has become increasingly active and has claimed several recent attacks.

Afghanistan’s western-backed government is under growing public pressure to set aside rivalries and improve security.

President Ashraf Ghani has approved a new security plan for Kabul, but the city of five million people already has many checkpoints and vehicle restrictions.

Afghan soldiers have taken what the UN describes as shocking casualties since international forces ended their combat role at the end of 2014, although troop casualty figures are no longer released.

In two other attacks yesterday in the volatile southern Helmand province, suicide car bombs killed at least two soldiers and wounded more than a dozen, officials said.

A surge in suicide attacks and bombings in Afghanistan killed a record number of civilians – almost 2,300 – last year, more than any previous year of the conflict on record, the UN says.

It was the fourth consecutive year that more than 10,000 civilians were killed or wounded in Afghanistan.