KABUL, Afghanistan — Four explosions struck
the Afghan capital on Sunday, killing at least two people and wounding 27
others, officials said. Among the injured were two Afghan journalists,
according to a local non-governmental media organization. The first bomb hit a
bus carrying university students in a residential area of western Kabul. It was
followed 20 minutes later by two further detonations at the same location, said
Nasrat Rahimi, a spokesman for the interior ministry.
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Wahidullah Mayar, a spokesman for the
public health ministry, said the three successive attacks injured 24 people,
including four women. The first blast killed at least one person. Mayar added
it was not immediately clear which explosion had caused the second death. A
wave of attacks has rocked the Afghan capital in the last week, where both the
Islamic State group and Taliban insurgents are active. Attacks by the Taliban
have continued unabated despite peace talks with the United States as well as a
fresh round of talks with Afghan notables last week in the Russian capital,
Moscow.
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The Taliban have rejected repeated demands
for a cease-fire in the decades-long civil war, demanding a U.S. and NATO troop
withdraw from Afghanistan first. However, the Islamic State group claimed
responsibility for three of Sunday’s attacks in Kabul. In a statement, the
Sunni extremist group said it set off an improvised explosive device on a bus
allegedly transporting minority Shiite Muslims. After security forces and
journalists had gathered at the site, the group detonated two additional
devices, it added.
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The secondary explosions wounded seven
people who had arrived after the initial attack, including five members of the
security forces, Rahimi said. Also wounded in the secondary explosions were two
Afghan journalists, Ahmad Jawed Kargar and Mohammad Faseh Mutawakil, according
to Nai, a media organization that supports open media in Afghanistan. Kargar, a
photographer for the European Pressphoto Agency, confirmed he was injured in a
video he posted to social media while being taken to the hospital. Epa did not
immediately respond to a request for comment.
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Nai said the second journalist had been
lightly wounded. Late in the afternoon Sunday, a fourth blast wounded three
people, said Rahimi. He said that a sticky bomb attached to a vehicle had
exploded in a southwestern neighborhood in Kabul. No one immediately claimed
the last attack. Islamic State group bombings have seemingly targeted
journalists before. In April 2018, nine journalists were killed and half a
dozen wounded in a double suicide bombing in Kabul. In that attack, it appeared
the journalists were intentionally targeted by a bomber who hid among members
of the media rushing to cover the first explosion. IS claimed responsibility
for the bombings, but didn’t say that journalists were specifically targeted.
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In a separate attack late Saturday in eastern
Ghazni province, a Taliban suicide bomber was able to enter a police compound
using a stolen Humvee packed with explosives. The blast killed at least seven
police reserve unit personnel and wounded eight others, said Naser Ahmad
Faqeri, head of Ghazni’s provincial council. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah
Mujahid took responsibility for the attack in Ghazni.
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In western Farah province, at least six
members of the border security forces were killed Saturday night in an attack
on their checkpoint by Taliban insurgents. Abdul Samad Salehi, a provincial
council member, said eight other members of the security forces were wounded.
The Taliban offered no comment on the attack in Farah.
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Source: The Washington Post- 3 June 2019
https://wapo.st/2WGQnfa
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