Suicide bomber kills 14 as exiled Afghan leader returns

A SUICIDE bomber killed at least 14 people and wounded 60 at the entrance to Kabul international airport yesterday, officials said, as scores gathered to welcome home Abdul Rashid Dostum, Afghanistan’s vice-president, from exile.

Senior government officials, political leaders and supporters were leaving the airport after greeting the powerful ethnic Uzbek leader and former warlord when the explosion happened.

Police said that nine members of the security forces and traffic police were among the dead.

Mr Dostum, who was travelling in an armoured vehicle, was unharmed, said Bashir Ahmad Tayanj, his spokesman.

Najib Danish, an interior ministry spokesman, said the suicide bomber was on foot and that civilians, including a child, as well as the security force members were among the casualties.

Mr Dostum, who is linked to a catalogue of human rights abuses in Afghanistan, was mobbed like a celebrity as he left the chartered plane from Turkey, where he has lived since May 2017.

Thousands of his supporters have taken to the streets in recent weeks to demand the release of Nezamuddin Qaisari, a pro-government militia leader, and call for Mr Dostum’s return.

“We don’t trust the government. We will continue our protests unless Dostum tells us to stop,” Ehsanullah Qowanch, a protest leader in Faryab province, told AFP yesterday.

Massoud Khan, another protester, said: “We have been on the streets for 20 days now. We are not going to stop our protests unless our demands are met.”