Intelligence complex attacked

THE Taliban waged a sustained assault against the Afghan intelligence complex in the city of Aybak yesterday, part of a bloody wave of violence across the country’s north.

With the opening of peace talks between the insurgency and the Afghan government stalled for months, the Taliban has intensified its offensives, creating one of the deadliest years of the long war. Insurgents detonated a car bomb yesterday at the entrance of the Afghan intelligence agency’s office in Aybak, the provincial capital of Samangan province, about 240km northwest of Kabul.

The blast opened the way for a squad of fighters to enter the compound, where hours later they were still battling Afghan forces, said Raaz Mohammad Mowahid, the head of the provincial council in Samangan.

The exact number of casualties was not clear, but the provincial governor’s office said that at least 40 injured people were brought to hospitals immediately after the initial explosion.

“Parts of the NDS and the municipality buildings were destroyed by the explosion,” Mowahid said, referring to the National Directorate of Security.

A major attack inside a city seems to breach an understanding between the US and the Taliban, who signed a preliminary peace deal in February that saw the withdrawal of some US forces.

The deal, in which the Taliban guaranteed that it would not attack US targets, has faced criticism from Afghans, as it lacked any guarantee of a ceasefire with other Afghans.

But US officials have said they had an understanding with the Taliban that the insurgents would reduce their levels of violence by as much as 80% and not carry out attacks in major cities and population centres.

The ongoing attack in Samangan caps a bloody 24 hours in northern Afghanistan, where the Taliban launched attacks in several provinces, officials said. At least 20 members of the Afghan security forces were killed in overnight assaults in two districts of Kunduz province.

In Badakhshan province, the Taliban attacked security posts in Arghanj Khwa district, killing at least seven from the security forces.

York Times