Kabul bomber kills 24; capital security criticized
KABUL, Afghanistan — A Taliban suicide bomber killed 24 people in a horrific early morning assault in a neighborhood where prominent politicians reside, causing residents and analysts to question the government’s ability to protect Afghanistan’s capital.
An additional 42 people were injured in the attack that took place during morning rush hour as government employees and students made their way to work and school.
Plumes of black smoke were seen billowing skyward outside the entrance to a private high school. Students in nearby dormitories were injured by flying glass.
Several cars were destroyed and small shops that lined the busy street were decimated, and many of the occupants within killed.
The suicide bomber had rammed his explosive laden car into a minibus carrying employees of the mines and petroleum ministry, said Kabul police chief spokesman Basir Mujahed.
In a statement to the media, the Taliban took responsibility for the bombing, saying the target was the employees of the intelligence services. Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban spokesman, said insurgents had spent the last two months in Kabul shadowing intelligence services employees before striking early Monday.
Analysts said widespread corruption, rife within the government and the security forces, makes keeping Kabul safe a difficult job.
“You can bring any amount of explosives into the city if you have money. Corruption is the big problem,” Kabul-based security analyst Waheed Muzhda told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. “Any group, even a small group, can bring weapons, ammunition to anywhere in the city.”
Last year Afghanistan was ranked as one of the world’s most corrupt countries according to Transparency International.
The western Kabul neighborhood where the attack occurred is home to many prominent political leaders, such as Hazara leader Mohammad Mohaqiq. It has also been the site of several previous attacks, including the suicide attack last month that killed a prominent Shiite Muslim cleric.
Amir Helam, whose friend died in the explosion, told Afghanistan’s Tolo TV that “every day people are dying.”
Kabul has been battered by explosions claimed by the Taliban and by the Islamic State group’s affiliate in Afghanistan. On May 31, the Afghan capital saw its worst suicide attack since the Taliban’s collapse in 2001 — an attack that killed 150 people and wounded scores.
Sayed Fazlullah Wahidi, a security analyst who served as governor of Kunar and Herat, said a growing mistrust of the government by many Afghans has helped insurgents.
“The police are corrupt, the security people are corrupt and the people are against the government. All this together makes it easy for the Taliban,” Wahidi said.