KUNDUZ, Afghanistan, May 5, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – A Taliban suicide bomber and several
gunmen attacked a police headquarters in northern Afghanistan on Sunday,
killing at least four people and wounding 40 more, according to the
insurgents and Afghan officials.
The attack occurred two days after President Ashraf Ghani offered the
Taliban a ceasefire during the holy month of Ramadan, which begins Monday.
The insurgents rebuffed the offer that came at the end of peace talks in
Kabul, and as the Taliban meet with the US at separate talks in Qatar.
Sunday’s attack started with a massive blast at the police facility in Pul-
i-Khumri, about 250 kilometres (155 miles) north of Kabul, sending a huge
plume of smoke into the sky.
The explosion was followed up by gunmen storming the police compound,
according to Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid.
In a tweet, he said a suicide bomber had detonated a bomb inside an
armoured personnel carrier, “flattening most of the building”.
Interior ministry spokesman Nasrat Rahimi said “two terrorists were gunned
down” in the attack, while “the rest of the attackers were besieged by the
Afghan forces.”
At least four people had been killed and another 40 wounded, said Baghan
provincial health director Mohibullah Habib.