71 die in attacks on Afghan security forces
Print Edition
Two separate suicide and gun attacks on government forces in Afghanistan left at least 71 dead and nearly 170 wounded, officials said yesterday, in the latest devastating assault on beleaguered security forces.
The Taliban claimed the more deadly of the two assaults, a coordinated attack on police in the southeast city of Gardez in Paktia province.
That assault killed 41 people and injured 158, according to the interior ministry, and left hospital officials calling for blood donations. There were desperate scenes as relatives queued for news of loved ones after the hours-long battle.
A separate ambush blamed on the Taliban in the neighboring province of Ghazni yesterday killed 25 security officials and five civilians with 10 wounded, the interior ministry said.
The assaults are a fresh blow as militants step up their offensives, with security forces already beset by corruption, desertions and suffering shocking casualties over the past year.
“The hospital is overwhelmed and we call on people to donate blood,” said Shir Mohammad Karimi, deputy health director in Gardez. The attack, claimed by the Taliban, began when two suicide car bombs blew up near the training center, which is close to the Paktia police headquarters, making way for the gunmen to start their assault, the interior ministry and police said.
A student at a nearby university who was in class at the time of the attack said he heard “a big boom” which caused the building to shake and windows shatter. “As we were trying to find our way (out of the building), I heard a second blast and then the dust and dirt covered us in the class. Several of my classmates were wounded by broken glass,” said Noor Ahmad.
The battle between the attackers, armed with guns and suicide vests, and security forces lasted around five hours before it ended with all five militants killed, officials said.
The second attack, in Ghazni some 100 kilometers from Gardez, involved insurgents detonating an explosives-laden Humvee vehicle near a police headquarters and attackers storming the building, said Haref Noori, the Ghazni governor’s spokesman.
“Dozens of Taliban” were killed in the attack, Ghazni police chief Mohammad Zaman said.
The attacks are the latest in a series of assaults by militants targeting Afghan security installations, including one on a military hospital in Kabul in March that may have killed up to 100 people, and a devastating attack on a base in Mazar-i-Sharif that left 144 people dead.
Yesterday’s attacks came one day after four-way talks between Afghanistan, Pakistan, the United States and China were held in Oman with the aim of ending the Taliban’s 16-year insurgency.
Paktia province borders Pakistan’s militancy-plagued tribal areas where the Taliban-affiliated Haqqani network has a presence.
Yesterday’s attack in Gardez came hours after a US drone strike in Pakistan’s Kurram tribal district, part of which borders Paktia, killed at least 26 Haqqani militants, officials have said.
The extremist group has been blamed for carrying out spectacular attacks across Afghanistan since the US-led invasion in 2001 and is known for its frequent use of suicide bombers.
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