Gunmen yesterday attacked an intelligence training center in Kabul, officials said, as families buried loved ones killed by a suicide bomber a day earlier in the war-weary Afghan capital.
The attack on the training facility was the latest incident in a blood-soaked week that saw militants deliver crippling blows to government forces across Afghanistan.
“Clashes are ongoing and the area is cordoned off by the Afghan security forces,” Kabul police spokesman Hashmat Stanikzai said.
Photo: Reuters
The firefight erupted near a training center overseen by the National Security Directorate — Afghanistan’s intelligence agency — with the gunmen holed up in a construction site near residential buildings, an official at the scene said.
Live television footage showed the area cordoned off, with gunfire echoing through the empty streets, while humvees patrolled and a helicopter circled above.
Commandos were also deployed to the scene to help contain the fighting, another security official said.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the incident.
The attack came just hours after a suicide bomber detonated explosives inside an education center in a predominantly Shiite area of western Kabul, where students were studying for college entrance exams, killing at least 37 people.
Loved ones and families of the dead yesterday held a mass funeral, where mourners wept and clutched the wooden coffins.
An industrial-sized digger helped soften the arid ground for the fresh graves as men removed rocks from the soil with pickaxes. Mourners decried the unrelenting bloodshed, while others dismissed murmurings of possible ceasefires and peace negotiations between the government and the Taliban.
“Death to your ceasefire and death to your ghost peace talks,” one of the funeral attendees cried. “They are killing our educated people and everyday they are killing us.”
The surge in violence comes just weeks after Afghans marked an unprecedented nationwide ceasefire between the Taliban and government forces in June, giving some temporary relief to civilians.
The brief respite sparked hopes the truce could clear the way for talks to end the nearly 17-year-old conflict. However, the devastating attacks across the nation in recent days have led many to question how such negotiations could move ahead amid the bloodshed.
“Everyday we are witnessing deadly attacks in Kabul and other major cities. So, I believe the Taliban do not believe in peace talks,” shopkeeper Shahenshah Shahin in Kabul said.
Analysts have suggested the Taliban might be trying to shore up its position before any potential negotiations by proving they can hit government installations at will.
“The Taliban will try to have an upper hand during talks, so we can’t rule out more attacks until a ceasefire,” Taliban expert Rahimullah Yusufzai said. “It’s the fighting season and the Taliban will want to rack up victories before winter.”
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