Suicide car explosion near Kabul airport in Afghanistan, 2 killed

[Hindustani78]

Suicide car explosion near Kabul airport in Afghanistan, 2 killed | Zee News
Last Updated: Sunday, May 17, 2015 - 12:16

Kabul: A suicide car bomber struck a foreign convoy near Kabul airport, killing at least two people and wounding 18 others during the peak morning rush hour Sunday, officials said.


The attack comes three days after 14 people -- most of them foreigners -- were killed in a Taliban attack on a Kabul guesthouse that trapped dozens attending a concert and triggered an hours-long standoff with Afghan forces.

"A suicide bomber detonated his Toyota sedan targeting a foreign forces convoy near Kabul airport today at 9:00 am," Kabul police spokesman Ebadullah Karimi told AFP.

"The target of the attacker was the foreign forces convoy. So far we have two women dead, 18 others wounded, all of them civilians," he said, adding that three children were among those wounded.

No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack.

Deputy interior ministry spokesman Najib Danish said three civilian vehicles, one of them belonging to foreign troops were damaged at the site of the attack.

An AFP photographer at the scene saw troops hauling away the body of a soldier pulled out from the twisted carcass of a badly damaged sedan.

"All we can say at this moment that two of Eupol`s vehicles were there at the time of the attack. We don`t have any more details yet," Aziz Basam, senior press officer for the European Union Police Mission in Afghanistan, told AFP.

The attack comes as Afghan forces face their first fighting season against the Taliban without the full support of US-led foreign combat troops.

Taliban insurgents, who have waged a 13-year war to topple the US-backed government, launched their spring offensive across Afghanistan late last month.

Khalilullah Hodkhil, the deputy head of Wazir Akbar Khan hospital, said he had so far received dead bodies of two young girls and 19 other wounded people.

"All of them are civilians, including women and children," he told AFP.

"They are under treatment and their wounds are not life-threatening."

Gul Agha Rohani, the deputy police chief of Kabul, said a number of casualties were expected from the powerful blast.

The attack came as NATO on Wednesday formally announced plans to retain a small military presence in Afghanistan after 2016 to help strengthen local security forces.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the future mission would be led by civilians and "will have a light footprint, but... (with) a military component".

Afghan forces are now solely responsible for security in the volatile country, after NATO`s combat mission formally ended in December with a small follow-up force staying on to train and support local personnel.

AFP

 

[Hindustani78]

Explosion rocks Kabul - The Hindu
Updated: May 17, 2015 12:52 IST
A woman reacts as she looks for her relatives at the site of an attack in Kabul on Sunday.

A suicide car bomber rammed a European Union vehicle near the main airport in Kabul on Sunday, killing at least three people, officials said.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack on the European Union Police Mission in Afghanistan (EUPOL), which advises Afghan law enforcement authorities.

EUPOL spokeswoman Sari Haukka-Konu confirmed that one of the mission's vehicles was hit by an explosion near Kabul airport.

She said all the EUPOL personnel "are in a safe place" with non-fatal injuries, but another person travelling in the vehicle was killed. She did not give the person's nationality.

Police spokesman Ebadullah Karimi said a suicide bomber in a Toyota Corolla rammed a foreign vehicle on the road from Kabul's main airport to a NATO military installation nearby.


He said at least two Afghan civilian bystanders were killed and 18 people were wounded.

The bomber struck about 200 metres from the main airport entrance along the road leading to NATO's adjacent base.

Rescuers carried wounded Afghan civilians from the scene, which police cordoned off.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed responsibility saying that two vehicles were destroyed and seven foreign troops were killed. The insurgents frequently report inflated casualties in their attacks.

 

[Hindustani78]

U.S. and Afghan security forces inspect the site of suicide attack near an international airport in Kabul, Afghanistan.

 

[Hindustani78]

Mon May 25, 2015 6:09am EDT
Related: World, Afghanistan
Taliban truck bomb hits government offices in southern Afghanistan, wounds dozens| Reuters
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan


A Taliban suicide bomber in a truck loaded with explosives struck a provincial government neighborhood in Zabul in southern Afghanistan on Monday, wounding nearly 70 people, officials said.

The Afghan Taliban, ousted from power by a U.S.-led coalition in 2001, claimed responsibility for the attack in Qalat city, the latest in a series following the withdrawal of most foreign troops from the country.

Zabul police said the attack - which they believed used more than 1,000 kilograms of explosives - was carried out near several government offices, including courts, the attorney general's office, Zabul municipality and the women's affairs department.

Lal Mohammad Tokhi, head of the public health department in Zabul, said 68 people had been taken to hospital. The wounded included 17 women and two children, Tokhi said.

Taliban spokesman Qari Yousuf Ahmadi said on his official Twitter account that the truck bomb was aimed at the provincial council and attorney general's offices in Zabul.

Earlier on Monday, four police turned their weapons on their colleagues in Maiwand district of Kandahar province. Zia Durani, a spokesman for Kandahar police, said three police were killed.

The Taliban said two of their members had infiltrated the police force and carried out the attack. The Taliban claimed the assailants killed eight police and took 10 weapons.

(Reporting by Sayed Sarwar Amani and Ismail Sameem in Kandahar; Writing by Mirwais Harooni; Editing by Paritosh Bansal)

 

[Hindustani78]

Last Updated: Tuesday, May 26, 2015 - 02:12
Taliban truck bomber wounds over 70 in south Afghanistan | Zee News


More than 70 people were wounded Monday when a Taliban truck bomber detonated a tonne of explosives outside a government complex in southern Afghanistan, the latest in a series of attacks that have sent civilian casualties surging.


Women and children were among those hurt in the explosion in the capital of Zabul province, Qalat, which ripped off the facades of government buildings and left scattered piles of rubble.

Separately, at least six civilians were killed late Monday when their pickup truck struck a roadside bomb in the Shahwalikot district of southern Kandahar province, officials said.

The violence comes as the Taliban step up attacks during their summer fighting offensive despite Kabul`s repeated overtures to the insurgents to reopen peace negotiations.

Deputy provincial police chief Ghulam Jilani Farahi said 73 people, including six police officers and four members of the provincial council, were wounded in the attack on the Qalat complex, which houses several government buildings.

Zabul`s police chief Mirwais Noorzai confirmed that more than 70 people were wounded, and said that four of them were in critical condition.

"Around 1,000 kilograms of explosives was used in the attack," he said.

The Afghan Taliban launched their annual spring-summer offensive -- titled `Azm` (Determination) -- in late April, vowing nationwide attacks in what is expected to be the bloodiest summer in a decade.

The group, which has been waging a 13-year war against the US-backed Afghan government, admitted they were behind the Zabul attack although no one has claimed responsibility for the Kandahar roadside bombing.

"As part of the Azm operation, this afternoon a martyrdom-seeker... conducted an attack on the provincial council, where cruel and unjust decisions against Muslims and Islam were being taken," Taliban spokesman Qari Yousuf Ahmadi said in a statement.

Resolute Support, the NATO-led non-combat mission in Afghanistan, condemned the Zabul attack, saying in a statement it was "disgusted by the Taliban`s complete disregard for human life".

The insurgents have launched a series of attacks in the capital and around the country as NATO forces pull back from the frontlines.A blast triggered by a Taliban car bomber ripped through the parking lot of the justice ministry in Kabul on May 19, killing four people and wounding dozens of others.

Also this month 14 people -- mostly foreigners -- were killed in a Taliban attack on a Kabul guest house that trapped dozens attending a concert.

Official efforts to bring the Taliban to the negotiating table have so far borne little fruit.

The surge in attacks has taken a heavy toll on civilians, according to the United Nations Assistance Mission to Afghanistan. In the first four months of 2015, civilian casualties jumped 16 percent from the same period last year, it said.

The Afghan government has drawn public criticism for its inability to end insurgent attacks -- a fact partly attributed by critics to political infighting and a lengthy delay in finalising a cabinet.

President Ashraf Ghani on Thursday nominated Mohammad Masoom Stanekzai, a top official in the government body overseeing the country`s peace process, for the crucial position of defence minister.

The post had been left vacant for months due to disagreements between Ghani and his chief executive officer and former presidential election rival, Abdullah Abdullah.

Public criticism over the failure to appoint a defence minister has been especially fierce.

Afghan forces are now solely responsible for security after NATO`s combat mission formally ended in December, with a small follow-up force staying on to train and support local personnel.

Earlier this month NATO formally announced plans to retain a small military presence in Afghanistan after 2016 to help strengthen local security forces.

AFP

 

[Hindustani78]

Taliban suicide bombers attack Afghan court killing two | Zee News
Tuesday, May 26, 2015 - 14:26
Kabul: Taliban suicide bombers attacked a court in Wardak province on Tuesday, killing two police officers before being shot dead as they entered the compound, the police chief said.


The police officers were killed when one of the bombers detonated his vest at the first entrance. Wardak province is about an hour`s drive west of the capital.

"Two bombers managed to enter the compound, but our security forces were prepared and shot them dead before they reached the second entrance,” Wardak police chief Khalil Andarabi said.

Reuters

 

[Hindustani78]

Taliban claim attack on Kabul guesthouse, 4 militants killed - The Hindu
May 27, 2015 11:59 IST

The Taliban claimed responsibility for an overnight attack on a guesthouse in the diplomatic enclave of the Afghan capital that ended on Wednesday morning after a standoff with Afghan government forces.

The Afghan Interior Ministry said the militants had been armed with a rocket-propelled grenade launcher and other weapons. All four attackers were killed.

No civilians or security personnel were injured or killed, an Afghan official said.

Deputy Interior Minister Mohammad Ayub Salangi said that weapons had been seized, including a rocket-propelled grenade launcher, three automatic rifles and a hand grenade.

Using his official Twitter account, Mr. Salangi said there were “no civilian or military casualties”.

The siege ended after 5 a.m. local time in a sustained barrage of automatic weapons fire and a series of huge explosions that resounded across the Wazir Akbar Khan district of downtown Kabul, home to many embassies and foreign firms.

Salangi had said earlier that the target of the attack appeared to be a guesthouse, but he gave no further details.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack in tweets on a recognised Twitter account. They referred to the target as “belonging to the occupiers,” reiterating the insurgents’ message that foreign installations are specific targets in the Afghan capital.

The attack came amid intensified fighting across many parts of Afghanistan since the insurgents launched their annual warm weather offensive a month ago. A Taliban attack on a guesthouse in another part of the capital earlier this month left 14 people dead, including nine foreigners.

The United Nations already has documented a record high number of civilian casualties 974 killed and 1,963 injured in the first four months of 2015, a 16 percent increase over the same period last year.

The siege began late Tuesday, with heavy explosions accompanying sporadic automatic weapon fire, and sounded to be focused on the Rabbani Guesthouse, which is favoured by foreigners as the area is in the heart of the diplomatic district and close to the airport.

Police and a paramilitary Crisis Response Unit surrounded the area, blocked roads, took up positions on rooftops and parked armoured personnel vehicles in the streets around the guesthouse. Police officers smashed lights throughout the neighbourhood to cover their movements.

For about five hours, gunfire and explosions were sporadic, before a lull lasting more than an hour ended with a dawn volley of sustained gunfire and huge explosions that sent clouds of black smoke into the sky.

The guesthouse, once known as the Heetal Hotel, was damaged in a December 2009 suicide car bomb attack near the home of former Afghan Vice-President Ahmad Zia Massoud brother of legendary anti-Taliban fighter Ahmad Shah Massoud, who was killed in an al-Qaeda suicide bombing two days before the September 11, 2001 attacks. That 2009 attack killed eight people and wounded nearly 40.

The hotel is owned by the Rabbani family, who include the late Burhanuddin Rabbani who served as President of Afghanistan from 1992 until 1996 and was assassinated in Kabul in 2011, and current Foreign Minister Salahuddin Rabbani.

Afghan security forces have been struggling to fend off Taliban attacks since U.S. and NATO forces concluded their combat mission at the end of last year and the mission morphed into one of training and support. The new insurgent strategy appears to be aimed at forcing the government to spread its forces thinly across many regions of the country, to focus on security rather than developing the economy and creating jobs as it has promised to do.

Earlier on Tuesday, in Uruzgan Province, officials said that a district has been under attack by militants for the past two weeks, with district chief Abdul Karim Karimi saying that since the fighting began 12 soldiers had been killed and dozens wounded.

On Monday, militants killed at least 26 police officers and soldiers in ambushes in southern Helmand Province.

 

[Hindustani78]

Afghan security officers patrol near a guesthouse targeted in an attack by the Taliban, in Kabul, Afghanistan. An all-night siege in an upscale neighborhood of Afghanistan's capital ended in the early hours of Wednesday morning with the deaths of four heavily armed Taliban attackers, though no civilians or security personnel were injured or killed, an Afghan official said.

 

[Hindustani78]

Taliban attack police headquarters in east Afghanistan | Zee News
Afghanistan: Taliban militants stormed a police headquarters in an Afghan city after a suicide bomb attack at its gate and wounded at least nine policemen, officials said on Monday.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack on the police compound in the eastern city of Jalalabad, which began before midnight on Sunday when a suicide bomber detonated a car-bomb at the gate, clearing the way for his comrades to rush in.

Zabihullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the Taliban, said the attack was aimed at an "importing meeting" at the headquarters. A police commander said his men over-powered the militants.

"Our security forces responded quickly. They shot and killed four others, while a fifth attacker has been detained,"

said provincial police chief Fazal Ahmad Shirzad.

Police seized AK-47 assault rifles, rocket-propelled grenades and hand grenades from the attackers, he said.

The Taliban, forced from power by U.S.-backed Afghan opponents and U.S. air strikes in 2001, are fighting to expel foreign forces and the U.S.-backed Afghan government.

In recent weeks, the militants have accelerated their insurgency across the country.

Last week, four Taliban insurgents stormed a guesthouse in the diplomatic quarter of the Afghan capital last week and held out for hours until they were killed by government forces.

Reuters

 

[Hindustani78]

25 militants killed in Afghan clashes | Zee News
Last Updated: Monday, June 1, 2015 - 14:38
Kabul: At least 25 militants were killed in clashes that erupted after attacks on several security check posts in Afghanistan`s restive Kandahar province, media reported on Monday.


According to officials, Taliban militants attacked security check posts in Kalamshah, Surkh Abad, Rud Kala and Enzar Kala areas of Marouf district leading to heavy clashes on Sunday evening, which left 25 militants killed and 45 others injured, reports Khaama press.

There was no casualty among security forces but two soldiers sustained light injuries in the exchange of fire, officials said.

Sunday`s incident comes after the Taliban group announced its spring offensive in April this year.

IANS

 

[kashif memon]

Good 4 taliban dog killed.

 

[Hindustani78]

Militant attack kills nine Afghan employees of Czech NGO: Officials | Zee News
Kabul: Nine Afghan employees of a Czech aid organisation were killed when militants attacked their guesthouse in northern Afghanistan early on Tuesday, officials said.

"Those killed in Zari district of Balkh province include seven aid workers -- six men and one woman -- and two guards," deputy provincial police chief Abdul Razaq Qaderi told AFP, blaming the Taliban for the attack.

The victims were employees of People in Need (PIN), a Czech organisation which has been delivering humanitarian aid around Afghanistan since 2001.

"Unfortunately last night unknown armed men attacked our guesthouse in Zari and martyred nine of our employees," a PIN official told AFP, requesting anonymity.

No group has so far claimed responsibility for the killings but the attack comes as the Taliban intensify their annual spring offensive despite repeated overtures from the government about reopening peace negotiations.

International aid workers have increasingly come under attack in Afghanistan despite the Taliban espousing an official policy that rejects attacks on humanitarian workers.

The latest attack comes just weeks after 14 people -- mostly foreigners -- were killed in a Taliban attack on a guesthouse in downtown Kabul popular with international aid workers.

Official efforts to bring the Taliban to the negotiating table have so far borne little fruit.

The surge in attacks has taken a heavy toll on civilians, according to the United Nations Assistance Mission to Afghanistan. In the first four months of 2015, civilian casualties jumped 16 percent from the same period last year, it said.

President Ashraf Ghani`s government has drawn criticism for failing to end growing insurgent attacks, which critics partly blame on political infighting and a lengthy delay in appointing a candidate for the crucial post of defence minister.

Ghani last month nominated Mohammad Masoom Stanekzai, a top official in the government body overseeing the country`s peace process, for the job.

The post had been left vacant for months due to disagreements between Ghani and his chief executive officer and former presidential election rival, Abdullah Abdullah.

AFP

 

[Hindustani78]

Afghan intel arrests militants who plotted guest house attack
Kabul, Jun 3, 2015 (PTI)

Afghanistan's intelligence agency has arrested a group of Haqqani network militants who plotted terror attack from Pakistan on a popular guest house here last month that killed 14 people, including four Indians.

The arrested militants have confessed that the attack on the Park Palace Guesthouse, frequented by foreigners, was plotted by the Haqqani network commander Qari Abdullah who is based in Peshawar, the capital of Pakistan's Khyber- Pakhtunkhwa province, Afghanistan's National Directorate of Security (NDS) said today.

One of the suspects was identified as Abdul Wakil who was working for an NGO called Madera, the Khaama Press reported, citing the statement.

It added that the other suspect has been identified as Ghulam Aziz who was appointed to carry out a suicide attack.

"NGO worker Abdul Wakil helped Qari Abdullah to plot the attack by preparing a fake USAID ID card for Ghulam Aziz who then visited the Park Palace guest house in Shahr-e-Naw area and prepared a sketch of the guest house for the attack," the statement said.

The attack was finally carried out by another militant identified as Idris who was deployed from Peshawar, it added.

Three gunmen stormed the guest house and started firing on May 13 night. All the attackers were killed in the siege that lasted for about seven hours.

Four Indians, two Pakistanis and an American were among 14 people killed in the attack.
Soon after the attack, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani's special envoy for good governance Ahmad Zia Massoud had said the militants attacked the guest house thinking Indian Ambassador Amar Sinha was present in the compound.

 

[Hindustani78]

Kabul guest house attack planned in Pakistan: Afghan agency | Zee News
Wednesday, June 3, 2015 - 22:52
Kabul: Afghanistan`s National Directorate of Security (NDS) on Wednesday said it has arrested two Haqqani Network militants who planned in Pakistan the attack on the Park Palace guest house here on May 13 that targeted the Indian ambassador but claimed 14 lives, including those of four Indians.

The Haqqani Network members were arrested in a special NDS operation in Sang-e-Nawishta area of Kabul, TOLONews quoted the statement.

The two militants confessed during preliminary investigations that the attack on Park Palace was planned by the Haqqani Network in Peshawar, capital of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan and that they used fake US Agency for International Development (USAID) identity documents to carry out the attack, the statement said.

The suspects were also allegedly involved in an attack on the interior ministry in Logar province.

Fourteen people died in the May 13 attack, including aid workers. The attack occurred at about 8.30 p.m. when gunmen entered the hotel and laid siege that lasted for about seven hours.

Among the dead were four Afghans, one Afghan-British citizen, four Indians, two Pakistanis, an Italian, a Kazakhstani and an American.

During the course of the attack, Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani`s special envoy for good governance Ahmad Zia Massoud told reporters that the militants attacked the guest house thinking that Indian envoy Arun Sinha was present in the premises.

However, the Indian embassy said that Sinha was not present in the guest house when the attack took place.

 

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