KABUL – At least 10 people were killed after a massive blast outside aBritish security company’s compound in Kabul on late Wednesday, officialssaid, with the attack claimed by the Taliban in the latest violence totarget the Afghan capital.
The interior ministry and police both said the blast had been a car bombtargeting a compound which houses G4S, a private British security company,in east Kabul.
“We can confirm that there has been an incident at one of our locations inKabul. The situation is ongoing and we are coordinating with the Afghanauthorities to bring it to a conclusion,” a G4S spokesperson told *AFP* inLondon.
Afghan authorities also said they were conducting a clearing operation atthe site.
“10 dead, 19 wounded have been evacuated from site,” health ministryspokesman Wahid Majroh told *AFP*, without giving the victims’nationalities.
Interior Ministry deputy spokesperson Nasrat Rahimi confirmed the toll butwarned it could yet change.
Earlier, sources had said the blast was followed by gunfire. Rahimi said nogunfire had been heard for some time, however.
According to its website, G4S provides security for the UK Foreign Officein Kabul.
The attack was claimed by the Taliban in a tweet.
It came just hours after Afghan President Ashraf Ghani announced theformation of a team for prospective peace talks with the militant group, asthe United Nations renewed calls for direct negotiations between Kabul andthe insurgents.
The Afghan government, Western diplomats and UN officials have in recentweeks raised hopes of finally reaching a deal to end the 17-year war.
At an international conference on Afghanistan in Geneva, Ghani said the12-person negotiating team includes both men and women and will be led byhis chief of staff Abdul Salam Rahimi.
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Rahimi, a former humanitarian worker and ex-deputy Afghan finance minister,is considered one of Ghani’s closest aides.
Wednesday’s assault on G4S is the second high-profile attack claimed by theTaliban on foreigners in as many days.
On Tuesday, three US soldiers were killed in a blast near Ghazni city incentral Afghanistan that was also claimed by the militant group.
The attacks follow a wave of bloody violence across the war-torn country inrecent weeks that has killed hundreds of people as militants step up theirattacks.
Earlier Wednesday, NATO said it was investigating an airstrike insoutheastern Afghanistan that might have killed civilians, with unverifiedreports of women and children among the dead.
On November 20, at least 55 people were killed when a bomber blew himselfup in the middle of a banquet hall in one of the deadliest attacks inAfghanistan this year.
The violence comes as the Taliban intensify pressure on Afghan securityforces, even as the international community ramps up efforts towards talks.
US envoy Zalmay Khalilzad has expressed hopes that a peace deal to end thewar could be struck before the Afghan presidential election, scheduled forApril.
His comments underscore an apparent increasing sense of urgency in theWhite House and among American diplomats for a peace deal to be donequickly. – APP/AFP
