Suicide truck bombing kills at least 21 in Afghanistan
KABUL, Afghanistan — The death toll in a powerful suicide truck bombing that struck a guesthouse in eastern Afghanistan rose to 21 with as many as 90 others wounded, officials said Saturday.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the late Friday night bombing in Pul-e-Alam, the capital of Logar province. There was no indication why the guesthouse was targeted. In Afghanistan, guesthouses are lodgings often provided for free by the government, usually for the poor, travelers and students.
The Interior Ministry quickly blamed the Taliban, which did not immediately respond.
The attack came on the eve of the official date set for the start of the final withdrawal of U.S. and NATO troops from Afghanistan. The Taliban, which had demanded that all U.S. troops pull out of Afghanistan by Saturday, has not offered any guarantees for the safety of the departing troops.
There was no indication the bombing was connected to the pullout and there are no U.S. or North Atlantic Treaty Organization troops in Logar province.
Hasib Stanikzai, head of the Logar provincial council, said that at the time of the attack, a group of local police was staying at the guesthouse, waiting for transportation home. Other rooms were occupied by students from more remote districts who had come to the provincial capital for university entrance exams.
Interior Ministry spokesman Tariq Arian said that the attack was under investigation and that the roof of the guesthouse had collapsed in the bombing. There were fears bodies could be trapped beneath the rubble, he said.
After 20 years, the U.S. is ending its “forever war” in Afghanistan, President Biden said, with troops to be fully out by Sept. 11.
The pullout comes amid a resurgent Taliban, which controls or holds sway over half of Afghanistan.