KABUL: Scores of people were wounded when a Taliban car bomb detonated inKabul on Wednesday, sending a massive plume of smoke over the Afghancapital and shattering windows far from the blast site.
Violence is surging across Afghanistan and in Kabul as the United Statesand the Taliban negotiate a peace deal ahead of elections planned forSeptember 28.
The car bomb exploded near the entrance of a police station in westernKabul around 9:00 am (0430 GMT), interior ministry spokesman Nasrat Rahimisaid.
Health ministry spokesman Wahidullah Mayar said at least 95 people, mostlycivilians including women and children, had been taken to hospital.
“I heard a big bang and all the windows of my shop broke with glass flyingeverywhere,” shopkeeper Ahmad Saleh told AFP.
“My head is spinning and still I don’t know what has happened but thewindows of about 20 shops around one kilometre from the blast site arebroken.”
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack.
According to footage on social media and witnesses, small-arms fire couldbe heard following the blast.
A common insurgent tactic is to use a suicide bomber to hit a target andthen follow up with gunmen storming the area.
More than 1,500 civilians were killed or wounded in the Afghan conflict inJuly alone, according to the United Nations, the highest monthly toll sofar this year and the worst single month since May 2017.
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The Taliban warned Afghans on Tuesday to keep away from election ralliesand ordered its fighters to “stand against” the vote planned for September28.
Previous elections have been rocked by frequent attacks by the Taliban andother insurgent groups trying to undermine Afghanistan’s fragile democracy.
Overnight Tuesday-Wednesday, Afghan commandos stormed a safe house forIslamic State fighters near Kabul’s airport, officials said. Details ofthat operation were still emerging.
Separately, in Baghlan province in northern Afghanistan, authorities saidthey stopped an attack on a security forces convoy.
According to an Afghan army statement, three attackers were driving in anexplosives-packed Humvee toward the convoy, but Afghan troops spotted themand destroyed the vehicle with a rocket-propelled grenade. Three attackerswere killed, it added.
At least five people were killed and seven wounded in Kabul on Tuesday whena vehicle carrying workers from the counter-narcotics directorate wasbombed, the interior ministry said.
The US and the Taliban met in Doha this week for an eighth round of talksaimed at striking a peace deal that would slash the American militarypresence in Afghanistan.
Despite the bloodshed sweeping the nation, both sides have cited “excellentprogress”. -APP/AFP
