KABUL – At least 25 people were killed when a suicide attacker struck aneducation centre in a minority Shiite area of western Kabul Wednesday,officials said, the latest assault in Afghanistan’s war-weary capital.
“We can confirm the attack was caused by a suicide bomber on foot. Thebomber detonated himself inside the education centre,” police spokesmanHashmat Stanikzai said.
The spokesmen for the interior ministry and health ministries confirmedthat at least 25 people were killed and 35 injured.
There was no immediately claim of responsibility for the attack. TheTaliban quickly denied they were involved.
Afghanistan has been reeling from a recent upsurge in militant violence,including a massive, days-long Taliban onslaught on the eastern city ofGhazni.
Analysts have said the assault on Ghazni was a military and psychologicalvictory against the government in Kabul, proving the insurgents have thestrength to strike a strategically vital city near the capital at will andremain entrenched there for days.
At least 100 security forces were killed in the fight for Ghazni, officialshave said, with unconfirmed fears that at least as many civilians died.
Afghan security forces, beset by killings, desertions and low morale, havetaken staggering losses since US-led NATO combat forces pulled out at theend of 2014.
But it is ordinary Afghans who have taken the brunt of the violence in thegrinding conflict, especially in Kabul, which the United Nations has saidis the deadliest place for civilians in the country.
Militant attacks and suicide bombs were the leading causes of civiliandeaths in the first half of 2018, a recent UN report showed.
The uptick in violence comes as US and Afghan forces intensify ground andair offensives against the Islamic State (IS), and the Taliban step uptheir turf war with the group.
The Taliban have not claimed a major assault in Kabul for weeks.
IS, however, has carried out multiple attacks in the eastern city ofJalalabad and the capital in recent months, targeting everything fromgovernment ministries to a midwife training centre. – APP/AFP