KABUL, Feb 11, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – A suicide attack rocked the Afghan capital
Kabul early Tuesday killing at least five people, officials said, in what was
the first major assault in the city in months.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, which comes
after nearly three months of relative calm in the capital.
“This morning at around 7 am, a suicide bomber detonated his explosives…
killing five people including two civilians and three military personnel.
Twelve were wounded, including five civilians,” said the ministry of
interior’s spokesman Nasrat Rahimi.
The ministry of defence confirmed the death toll but gave a smaller figure
for the injured, saying at least six people were hurt in the attack.
A witness near the scene in western Kabul said the blast happened near the
Marshal Fahim military academy.
“It was a big explosion that rocked our house. We also heard gunfire
afterwards. Ambulances rushed to the area quickly,” resident Samiullah, who
goes by one name, told AFP.
The Kabul police chief confirmed the location, according to a local
broadcaster.
In recent weeks the Taliban have refrained from attacking major urban
centres in an effort to keep talks with the US on track, though violence in
the provinces has continued.
The last major attack in Kabul was in November when at least 12 people
were killed after a minivan packed with explosives rammed into a vehicle
carrying foreigners during morning rush hour.
Four foreign nationals were among those wounded in the attack.
The military academy has been the scene of several attacks in the past,
including an Islamic State-claimed assault last May.
Tuesday’s blast comes as Washington and the Taliban wrangle over a
possible deal that would see US troops begin to leave Afghanistan in return
for security guarantees.
However, there appears to have been little progress in reaching a deal in
recent weeks, prompting the insurgents to saddle blame on the White House and
what they say are a growing list of demands by the Americans to pave the way
for a deal.
The US and Taliban had been negotiating for a year and were on the brink
of an announcement in September 2019 when President Donald Trump abruptly
declared the process “dead”, citing ongoing Taliban violence.
Talks were later restarted in December in Qatar, but paused again
following an attack near the US-run Bagram military base in Afghanistan.
As talks have fluctuated, violent attacks in the country have raged, with
the number of clashes jumping to record levels in the last quarter of 2019,
according to a recent US government watchdog report.