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AFGHANISTAN-BLAST LEAD
At least 7 killed in Kabul car bomb blast: interior ministry
KABUL, Nov 13, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – At least seven people were killed and
seven wounded when a car bomb detonated during Kabul’s busy morning rush hour
Wednesday, an interior ministry spokesman said.
The spokesman, Nasrat Rahimi, said the bomb had gone off in a neighbourhood
which is near the interior ministry and north of Kabul airport.
He said the dead were all civilians. “This is the initial information, more
details later,” he added.
A source at the interior ministry said the blast was detonated by a suicide
bomber in the car, and that it had targeted a convoy of government vehicles
on a main road.
The blast came one day after Afghan President Ashraf Ghani announced that
Kabul would release three high-ranking Taliban prisoners in an apparent
prisoner swap with Western hostages who were kidnapped by the insurgents in
2016.
The three Taliban prisoners include Anas Haqqani, who was seized in 2014
and whose older brother is the deputy Taliban leader and head of the Haqqani
network, a notorious Taliban affiliate.
Ghani did not specify the fate of the Western hostages — an Australian and
an American, both professors at the American University in Kabul — and it
was not clear when or where they would be freed.
Ghani said Tuesday that he hoped the decision would help “pave the way” for
the start of unofficial direct talks between his government and the Taliban,
who have long refused to negotiate with the administration in Kabul.
BSS/AFP/FI/ 1118 hrs