KABUL – Interior Minister Wais Ahmad Barmak announced on Sunday afternoonat a joint security press conference that the death tollfollowingSaturday’s deadly bombing in Kabul was now at 103 and 235 were wounded.
He said many police officers were among the dead but did not give details.But he did say that among the wounded were 30 police officers.
“Many policemen were also killed,” he said.
The explosion happened just before 1pm on Saturday when an explosive-ladenambulance was detonated in a busy area, which is close to Kabul’s oldbuilding of the Ministry of Interior.
“There had been two ambulances involved. The first vehicle was stopped bypolice but both vehicles managed to get throughthe checkpoint. The oneambulance was only an escort and then left. The second ambulance wasdetonated,” Barmak said at a joint press conference with Defence MinisterTariq Shah Bahrami and the National Directorate ofSecurity (NDS) chiefMasoom Stanekzai.
Barmak said that the security institutions are doing everything possible tofight insurgency and stop such attacks.
“All security forces are working together to fight insurgency and they allhold themselves responsible for the (Intercontinental) hotel attack andSaturday’s deadly bombing. He said all security institutions are “workinghard to eliminate threats,” he said, adding that “there had been nonegligence or recklessness on the part of security forces in yesterday’sbombing.”
He said however that they could not disclose all information as itcould jeopardize investigations.
Barmak said however that more reforms will be introduced into securityplans for Kabul city in the next few weeks.
In the meantime, Bahrami called for Afghans to stand united until the enemyhas been defeated.
“There are more than 20 active insurgent groups in the country but securityinstitutions are fighting hard to eliminate them,” he said.
Stanekzai also said that yesterday’s attack was a tragedy and thatcondolences alone would not solve the problems of Afghanistan.
“The war in Afghanistan is not rooted in the country. People need to have acomplete understanding of Afghanistan’s security landscape. Afghangovernment and people have realized that this is an imposed war, it is notan internal issue,” he said.
“We have arrested terrorists of all origins including Tajik and Uighurs. Inone week 195 terrorists were detained,” he said.