TALIBAN STRIKE KABUL, 30 DEAD
SUICIDE BOMBING NEAR DEFENCE MINISTRY
At least 30 people were killed and hundreds wounded when a Taliban truck bomb tore through central Kabul and a fierce firefight broke out on Tuesday, a week after the insurgents launched their annual spring offensive.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack in a densely crowded neighbourhood, which sent clouds of acrid smoke billowing into the sky and rattled windows several kilometres away.
The brazen assault near the defence ministry marks the first major Taliban attack in the Afghan capital since the insurgents announced the start of this year’s fighting season.
Interior ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said 30 people, including women and children, were killed in the attack and warned that the toll could rise further.
He added that more than 320 were wounded, with many of them battling for their lives in hospital.
“One of the suicide attack- ers blew up an explosives-laden truck in a public parking lot next to a government building,” Kabul police chief Abdul Rahman Rahimi told reporters.
“The second attacker engaged security forces in a gunbattle before being gunned down.”
The pitched firefight appeared to die down several hours after the powerful explosion, but some security officials expressed con- cern that other bombers may still be on the loose.
“I saw wounded people lying on the road and screaming helplessly,” said Sadiqullah, who runs a tea stall near the build- ing which was attacked.
The interior ministry said hundreds of kilograms of explosives were used in the bombing, the deadliest so far this year in the Afghan capital.
The scene of the attack was littered with upturned cars, many of them mangled and charred.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed their fighters had managed to enter the offices of the National Directorate of Security, the main spy agency.
Sediqqi conceded that one of the attackers managed to breach the compound, a government office responsible for providing security to government VIPs, but said he was gunned down after a firefight.
SECOND ATTACK
A large explosion was heard in central Kabul several hours after a suicide attack on a building of the national security agency killed dozens of people and wounded hundreds more in the Afghan capital earlier on Tuesday.
Sirens could be heard but it was not immediately clear what had caused the blast or whether there were any casualties.