A Taliban suicide bomber and gunmen attacked the Afghan National Assembly yesterday, shattering windows, wounding at least 19 people and sending a plume of black smoke across Kabul, as a second district in two days fell to the group in the north.
The attack on the symbolic center of power, one of the most brazen in years, along with a series of Taliban gains elsewhere, raise questions about the NATO-trained Afghan security forces’ ability to cope and how far the militants can advance.
Violence has spiraled in Afghanistan since the departure of most foreign forces at the end of last year, as the insurgents push to take territory more than 13 years after the US-led military intervention that toppled the Taliban from power.
Photo: EPA
The attack began when a Taliban fighter driving a car loaded with explosives blew up outside parliament gates, Kabul police spokesman Ebadullah Karimi said, raising questions about how the driver got through several security checkpoints.
Six gunmen took up positions in a building near parliament, he said. Security forces killed the six after a gun battle lasting nearly two hours.
Four women were among the 19 wounded, said Sayed Kabir Amiri, a health official who coordinates Kabul hospitals.
Kabul police chief Abdul Rahman Rahimi said all lawmakers were safe and that fighting was ongoing. TV images showed legislators calmly leaving the building, which was engulfed with dust and smoke.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed responsibility.
“We have launched an attack on parliament, as there was an important gathering to introduce the country’s defense minister,” he said by telephone.
Afghan lawmaker Shukria Barekzai said: “It was a huge blast that shook the building and shattered windows.”
Afghan lawmaker Farhad Sediqi was among several lawmakers who criticized security agencies for not preventing the attack.
“It shows a big failure in the intelligence and security departments of the government,” he said.
The withdrawal of foreign forces and a reduction in US air strikes have allowed Taliban fighters to launch several major attacks in important Afghan provinces.
The second district to fall to the Taliban yesterday was in the northern province of Kunduz. Officials said it fell after urgently needed reinforcements failed to arrive.
The Taliban captured the Dasht-e-Archi District a day after hundreds of militants fought their way to the center of the adjacent district of Chardara.
“The Taliban managed to take it over this morning, as the area has been surrounded for days,” Nasruddin Saeedi, the district governor who escaped to the provincial capital, Kunduz, told reporters by telephone.
“They are many foreign fighters with heavy machine guns. We have asked for reinforcements, but none arrived,” Saeedi said.
Afghan soldiers were preparing a counterattack to retake both districts, another local official said.
Yesterday’s heavy fighting was just 3km from the governor’s compound.
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