KABUL -- Four civilians and two members of
the Afghan security forces have been killed and more than 115 wounded after a
powerful car bomb rocked the Afghan capital, followed by a battle between
gunmen and security forces, officials say.
The rush-hour attack near the Defense
Ministry compound in Kabul on July 1 was followed by an hours-long gunbattle
with militants who took positions in a nearby building to shoot at rescuers. An
Interior Ministry official later said that all five militants had been killed.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the
attack, which came as representatives of the militant groups met in Qatar with
negotiators from the United States for the third-straight day in an effort to
end the nearly 18-year war in Afghanistan.
The blast occurred in Kabul's Puli Mahmood
Khan neighborhood during rush hour and shook buildings up to 2 kilometers away,
reports said.
Gunshots could be heard after the explosion
as helicopter gunships flew over the area and ambulances rushed to the scene.
Health Ministry spokesman Wahidullah Mayar
told RFE/RL that 26 children and five women were among the injured.
However, Education Ministry spokeswoman
Nooria Nazhat was quoted as saying that 51 children in two schools near the
blast site were hurt by flying glass.
A police official, Mohammad Karim, said
that a car bomb exploded outside a Defense Ministry building, after which
militants ran into a nearby building and began firing down on the ministry.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said
the attack targeted a Defense Ministry "logistics and engineering
center."
The neighborhood is home to several
military and government buildings, as well as the headquarters of the Afghan
Football Federation.
Speaking from a hospital where he was being
treated for light injuries, the federation's acting head, Yousuf Kargar, told
RFE/RL: "We were at a meeting. Some of our staff were wounded. I was
wounded too. Now, I feel better, by the grace of God."
Afghanistan's chief executive, Abdullah
Abdullah, tweeted that the "terrorist" attack near the Afghan
Football Federation building showed the "inherent criminal nature" of
the group.
Abdullah said the country's
"heroic" security forces will continue to "pursue &
punish" Taliban militants, whom he called "miscreants."
"We strongly condemn the Taliban's the latest brutal attack against fellow [Afghans]," the U.S. Embassy in Kabul
said.
Pakistan's Foreign Ministry also condemned
the "terrorist attack" in Kabul, saying that such assaults were
"detrimental to the cause of peace, security, and stability in
Afghanistan."
Both the Taliban and the Islamic State (IS) the extremist group operate in Kabul, which has been relatively quiet in recent
months following a spate of violent explosions, many claimed by the IS the affiliate that operates in Afghanistan.
The latest attack in the city came as the
seventh round of talks between Taliban negotiators and Zalmay Khalilzad, the
U.S. peace envoy for Afghanistan, entered a third day in the Qatari capital,
Doha.
The negotiations were expected to focus on
working out a timeline for the withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan
and on a Taliban guarantee that militants will not plot attacks from Afghan
soil.
Suhail Shaheen, spokesman for the Taliban's
political office in Doha, told AP on July 1, "Our main concern is to make
sure a timeline for troop pullout is announced."
The Taliban, driven from power by the
U.S.-led invasion in 2001, controls large swaths of Afghanistan's territory.
The group has so far refused to talk
directly to the Afghan government in Kabul, calling it a puppet of the West,
and has continued to carry out nearly daily attacks across Afghanistan. - With
reporting by Reuters, AP, and AFP
Source: Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty – 1
July 2019
https://bit.ly/2FL7l2m
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