KABUL – Afghan Taliban is expanding its bomb delivery systems inAfghanistan. It is now using the humble donkey to courier bombs over tosecurity forces.

On Monday, two policemen were injured in a ‘donkey bomb’ attack in Kunarprovince, on the border with Pakistan. The donkey had been loaded withexplosives and set on a path towards a security check post. However, theanimal was blown up using a remote control when it was intercepted by twopolicemen on patrol.

“The armed opposition terrorists adjusted explosive device on a donkey andwere attempting to detonated it next to a police checkpoint in Sayed Khilarea of Sarkano district today morning, but police patrol at nearby stoppedthe donkey and the militants nearby detonated it with remote controlinjuring two local police personnel,” provincial police chief HaqnawazHaqyar said, reported Chinese news agency Xinhua.

The Taliban is yet to comment on the attack, which is part of a rising waveof violence against government forces and establishments.

They have been used on at least two occasions before in Afghanistan – oncein 2009 and another in 2014. The 2009 attack had been foiled when an alertsecurity guard noticed some men running away after sending the donkeyrunning towards his security post. The poor animal had to be stopped with agunshot.

Animal-borne attacks can be deadly, since they tend to catch securityforces unawares. They have been regularly used against Israeli forces andestablishments in the strife-torn Gaza Strip, where security personnel tendto be on razor’s edge on the lookout for any human who approaches themsuspiciously.