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AFGHANISTAN-CONFLICT 2NDLEAD
At least 95 wounded in Taliban blast in Kabul
KABUL, Aug 7, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Scores of people were wounded when a
Taliban car bomb detonated in Kabul on Wednesday, sending a massive plume of
smoke over the capital and shattering windows far from the blast site.
Violence is surging across Afghanistan and in Kabul as the US and the
Taliban negotiate a peace deal ahead of elections planned for September 28.
The car bomb exploded near the entrance of a police station in western
Kabul around 9:00 am (0430 GMT), interior ministry spokesman Nasrat Rahimi
said.
Health ministry spokesman Wahidullah Mayar said at least 95 people, mostly
civilians and including women and children, had been taken to hospital.
“I heard a big bang and all the windows of my shop broke with glass flying
everywhere,” shopkeeper Ahmad Saleh told AFP.
“My head is spinning and still I don’t know what has happened but the
windows of about 20 shops around one kilometre from the blast site are
broken.”
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack.
According to footage on social media and witnesses, small-arms fire could
be heard following the blast.
A common insurgent tactic is to use a suicide bomber to hit a target and
then follow up with gunmen storming the area.
More than 1,500 civilians were killed or wounded in the Afghan conflict in
July alone, according to the UN, the highest monthly toll so far this year
and the worst single month since May 2017.
Overnight Tuesday-Wednesday, Afghan commandos stormed a safe house for
Islamic State fighters near Kabul’s airport, officials said. Details of that
operation were still emerging.
At least five people were killed and seven wounded in Kabul on Tuesday
when a vehicle carrying workers from the counter-narcotics directorate was
bombed, the interior ministry said.
BSS/AFP/FI/ 1312 hrs