[But the explosions on Monday had many in
Kabul particularly worried. The loss of senior security personnel suggested
that the Taliban had studied the Afghan forces’ response to their assaults.
After most attacks in Kabul and the provinces, senior officials —– sometimes
even ministers — rush to the scene.]
By Mujib Mashal And Jawad Sukhanyar
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|
An attack by Taliban
suicide bombers in a busy area near the defense ministry in
Kabul killed at least
20 people, the deadliest toll in the Afghan capital in weeks.
By ELSA BUTLER on Publish
Date September 5, 2016. Photo by Mohammad
Ismail/Reuters. Watch in
Times Video »
|
KABUL,
Afghanistan — A pair of
coordinated Taliban bombings targeted the Afghan Defense Ministry in a crowded
neighborhood of Kabul on Monday, officials said, killing at least 24 people and
wounding dozens, among them senior security officials.
Sediq Sediqqi, a spokesman for the Interior
Ministry, said an army general and a police colonel in charge of the area’s
security were among the dead. Other officials said the deputy director of
President Ashraf Ghani’s elite protection force had also been killed.
At least 50 people were wounded, Mr. Sediqqi
said. A spokesman for the Health Ministry put that number at 91.
Hours later, just before midnight, a third
explosion shook much of the city. Witnesses said that a car bomb had exploded
outside a guesthouse near Kabul Bank, in the downtown Shar-e Naw neighborhood,
and that gunmen had then tried to enter the house. Police special forces rushed
to the scene, and sporadic gunfire could be heard.
The Defense Ministry is near a crowded bazaar
along the Kabul River, and the earlier explosions happened just as official
hours were ending and government employees were heading home. The presidential
palace and several other government agencies are also in the area.
Mohammad Radmanish, a Defense Ministry
spokesman, said both blasts had been suicide bombings. The first bomber
detonated his explosives by a bridge outside the entrance to the ministry
around 3:30 p.m.
“When people and security forces arrived for
help, the second attacker blew himself up among the crowd,” Mr. Radmanish said.
Zabihullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman, said
in a statement to the news media that his group was responsible for the
explosions. The Taliban’s statement said the first blast had been caused by
placed explosives, and that the second one had been a suicide bombing.
The bombings were the latest in a summer-long
wave of attacks on government or Western targets in the capital, including a
complex attack by gunmen with suicide vests on the American University that
killed 13 people a week and a half ago.
But the explosions on Monday had many in
Kabul particularly worried. The loss of senior security personnel suggested
that the Taliban had studied the Afghan forces’ response to their assaults.
After most attacks in Kabul and the provinces, senior officials —– sometimes
even ministers — rush to the scene.
The Taliban’s repeated assaults on
well-protected targets at the heart of the capital have added to the pressure
on the already burdened security forces. The insurgency is not their only worry
in the chaotic city: In addition to regular crime, they have been stretched by
street protests as well as skirmishes between rival political groups.
Even as blood from the first two bombings was
being washed away on Monday, bodyguards for rival strongmen got into a shootout
in a different corner of the city. Before the police reached the scene and
cordoned off the area, one person was killed and three were wounded.
Zahra Nader contributed reporting.
