Sun, Feb 25, 2018 page1

• Multiple suicide bombers kill at least 23 in Afghanistan

  • AFP, KABUL
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  At least 23 people were killed and more than a dozen wounded in multiple suicide bombings and attacks in Afghanistan yesterday, officials said, the latest in a series of assaults in the war-torn country.

  In the biggest attack, Taliban militants stormed an army base in the western Farah Province, killing at least 18 soldiers.

  “Last night, a big group of militants attacked an army base in Bala Buluk District of Farah. Unfortunately, we lost 18 soldiers, two soldiers were wounded. We have sent more reinforcements to the area,” Afghan Ministry of Defense spokesman Daulat Wazir said.

  

  Afghan security forces man a checkpoint in Kabul yesterday.

  Photo: EPA-EFE

  The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack.

  Farah Deputy Governor Younus Rasooli said authorities had sent a fact-finding delegation to Bala Buluk to investigate the assault.

  In another attack, a suicide bomber detonated his explosives near the diplomatic area of Kabul during the morning rush hour, killing at least three people and wounding five others, Afghan Ministry of Interior Affairs deputy spokesman Nasrat Rahimi said.

  “At about 8:30am, a suicide bomber on foot, well-dressed with a necktie on, was identified at a checkpoint. He blew up his explosives, killing three and wounding five others,” Rahimi said, updating an earlier toll.

  A security source who requested anonymity said the explosion happened near a compound belonging to the Afghan National Directorate of Security (NDS), an intelligence agency.

  The compound is located near NATO headquarters and the US embassy.

  “I was driving nearby when I heard a big explosion, the windows of my car were smashed. I saw several wounded people on the street near me,” a witness told Tolonews TV, adding that security forces had since swarmed the area, closing off the main road leading to the attack site.

  In December last year, a suicide attacker on foot blew himself up near the same compound, killing at least six civilians.

  There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the latest attack in Kabul, which in the past few months has become one of the deadliest places in Afghanistan for civilians.

  Since the middle of last month, militants have stormed a luxury hotel, bombed a crowded street and raided a military compound in the capital, killing more than 130 people as the city remains on high alert fearing further violence.

  In two other attacks in volatile southern Helmand Province, suicide car bombers killed at least two soldiers and wounded more than a dozen others, officials said.

  In the first incident, militants used a Humvee to attack an army base in Nad Ali District, but the vehicle was destroyed when soldiers identified it and hit it with a rocket-propelled grenade, provincial spokesman Omar Zawak said.

  “Unfortunately, two soldiers were killed in the attack and seven wounded,” he said.

  The Nad Ali attack was followed by a second suicide car bombing in the provincial capital, Lashkar Gah, that wounded seven people.

  The attack was against an NDS compound and near a police headquarters in the city, Helmand police spokesman Salaam Afghan told reporters.

  The Taliban claimed responsibility for both attacks in Helmand.

  Militants, including the Taliban and the Islamic State group, have stepped up their attacks on beleaguered Afghan troops and police in the past few months, sapping morale already hit by desertions and corruption.

  Afghan soldiers have taken what the UN describes as “shocking” casualties since international forces ended their combat role at the end of 2014, although troop casualty figures are no longer released.
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