Twin Taliban attacks leave 55 dead as it makes presence felt
TALIBAN attacks in Afghanistan and Pakistan left at least 55 dead yesterday as the terrorist network staged a resurgence of violence during its summer offensive.
Attacks in Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, and Lahore, Pakistan, killed 29 and 26 people, respectively.
The attacks injured dozens more and the death toll was expected to rise.
In the early-morning attack in Kabul yesterday, a suicide bomber targeted a neighbourhood inhabited by prominent politicians, leading to questions about the government’s ability to protect its capital.
The attacker crashed a car filled with explosives into a minibus transporting employees of the mines and petroleum ministry, killing 29.
Another 42 people were injured in the attack, including children at a nearby boarding school and people who worked in local shops. Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban’s spokesman, said the terrorists had spent two months in Kabul, shadowing intelligence service employees before striking.
In yesterday’s Lahore attack, the Taliban targeted members of the police, with a suicide bomber riding a motorcycle into officers guarding a demolition site at Kot Lakhpat’s vegetable market on the outskirts of the city. Rana Sanaullah, the home minister of the eastern Punjab province, said the attack was carried out by people who wanted to destabilise the region.
“No matter what name they use, these terrorists are one but they cannot demoralise the Pakistani nation,” said Mr Sanaullah.
Antonio Guterres, the UN secretarygeneral, “supports the efforts of the government of Pakistan to fight terrorism and violent extremism with full respect for international human rights”, his spokesman said.
The attacks underlined Afghanistan’s difficult path to peace, and shattered a period of calm in Lahore.
The Taliban has been making its presence felt more strongly in recent months and has experienced a resurgence of power in Afghanistan.
It recently captured areas of Helmand province – formerly seen as an area of triumph for British soldiers – which will allow it to make advances across central and western regions.