Ahmad Sultan
A truck packed with explosives blew up near a court in
the eastern Afghan city of Gardez on Thursday, killing at least five
people in an attack claimed by Taliban insurgents.
The explosion
comes two days after at least 56 people were killed in attacks elsewhere
in the country, including women and newborn babies, dealing a setback
to peace plans in the war-ravaged nation.
“A car bomb explosion
took place near a military court in Gardez city, which is a populated
area. Dozens of civilians are feared to be dead and wounded,” said Tariq
Arian, an interior ministry spokesman.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid in a statement said the rebel group was responsible for the attack.
Emal
Khan Momand, a military spokesman in Paktia province where Gardez is
located, said the attack was carried out by a truck packed with
explosives. Five people were killed and 14 were wounded, he said.
Arian
blamed the militant Haqqani network, which has ties to Taliban rebels
and the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba militant group. These groups
rarely publicly claim responsibility for attacks.
The blast comes
after gunmen attacked a maternity hospital in Kabul, killing 24 people,
including new mothers and newborn babies, on Tuesday. A suicide blast
claimed by the Islamic State at a funeral in eastern Nangahar on the
same day killed 32.
President Ashraf Ghani condemned the attacks
and said he had ordered the military to switch to offensive mode rather
than the defensive stance it had adopted as the United States withdraws
troops and tries to broker talks with the Taliban.
The Taliban
denied any involvement in those attacks, but the government accused the
group of fostering an environment in which terrorism thrives or of
working with other militant groups who could have been involved,
straining efforts by the United States to bring the insurgents and the
Afghan government together.
Join Geezgo for free. Use Geezgo's end-to-end encrypted Chat with your Closenets (friends, relatives, colleague etc) in personalized ways.>>
Comments
Post a Comment