ISLAMABAD – The Taliban and the Islamic State group are creating a perfectstorm of carnage in Kabul , adapting to ramped up security in the war-wearycapital to strike again and again — and it is civilians who are paying theprice.

Three times in the past 10 days Taliban and IS extremists have penetratedheavily fortified areas in Afghanistan’s capital to carry out attacks thathave killed and wounded hundreds of people, including foreigners.

The extremists’ chilling ability to hit at the heart of the country despiteincreased police checks has put security and intelligence failures in thespotlight.

After the latest assault Monday, an IS-claimed attack on an army battalionthat killed at least 11 soldiers, President Ashraf Ghani pledged in a tweetthat ‘reforms in our intelligence services and Ministry of Interior are ourtop priority now’.

But as public anger swells, security officials are on the defensive.

‘The terrorists are changing their tactics,’ Mohammad Masoom Stanekzai, thehead of Afghanistan’s spy agency, told reporters on Sunday.

‘It does not mean a lapse (in security). We have foiled many attacks butsome are difficult to control.’

On January 20 the Taliban launched the first of two massive attacks inlink>Kabul link> :an hours-long assault on a luxury hotel in which at least 25 people werekilled, including many foreigners.

One week later an ambulance laden with explosives detonated in a crowdedstreet, killing more than 100 people and wounding hundreds more in one ofthe deadliest bomb blasts in link>Kabullink> in recent years.

The Taliban claimed responsibility, insisting the explosion had killedmainly police.

On Monday many residents awoke to the sounds of gunfire and explosions oncemore as IS militants attacked the battalion.

Relentless Taliban violence is not new to the city. But, analysts say, theinsurgents’ recent escalation is exacerbated by the lightning increase inIS attacks in the capital since 2016.

There is no reason to believe the Taliban and IS are partneringoperationally, or conversely, competing to outdo each other, says MichaelKugelman of the Wilson Center in Washington, DC.

But ‘the cumulative effect of their attacks is simply devastating,’ he toldAFP.

– ‘Gloves off’ –

As the Taliban ramps up its insurgency to drive out foreign forces and IStries to expand its relatively small foothold in the country,link>Kabul link> isbecoming more attractive for both groups, said Borhan Osman, a senioranalyst with the International Crisis Group.

‘Increasing pressure on the battlefield may be leading them to hit back inan area where they can publicly disprove the rhetoric of the US military orAfghan government that they have weakened the Taliban or IS,’ Osman toldAFP.

That ‘can also shake public confidence in the government’s ability toprotect the population.’

Western officials have told AFP the militants are adapting to new securitymeasures, such as those implemented since a massive truck bomb in May 2017killed around 150 and wounded about 400, inlink>Kabul link> ‘sdeadliest attack since the US invasion. – AFP