A suicide vehicle bomber struck the entrance to the worldwide airport in Afghanistan’s capital of Kabul, leaving flights suspended as police survey the damage.
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Kabul was already on high alert following last week’s attacks which killed at least 50 civilians and security forces personnel in the worst violence in the Afghan capital in years.
By The Associated Press In this photo by Rajesh Kumar Singh, smoke rises from burning incense as a devotee offers prayers to Hindu god Shiva at a temple, on the occasion of Shrawan Somvar in…
On Thursday, a leading Taliban council appointed Mansoor as the new leader to replace former Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar.
In the eastern Nangarhar province, a drone strike carried out by Afghan forces killed 15 insurgents and wounded nine others on Saturday, said Hazrat Hussain Mashreqiwal, spokesman for the provincial police chief.
The casualties, which included a woman and a child, were confirmed by the interior ministry. He said it was aimed at “foreigners”.
Afghan Taliban will not change its decision to appoint Mullah Akhtar Mansour as the group’s chief as he was elected by a “clear majority” with only a “few people” opposing him, Mullah Omar’s former spokesman has said. It also lays bare the shortcomings of the multi- billion dollar US-led effort to develop selfreliant Afghan forces, suffering large daily casualties and struggling to rein in an ascendant insurgency on their own as the war expands on multiple fronts.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani discussed initiating another round of talks in a telephone call Sunday to Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, a senior official in Islamabad told AFP without elaborating. Last week, Feday-e-Mahaz, a breakaway Taliban faction, posted a statement on its Facebook page saying that “the whereabouts of Mullah Omar is known to everyone, and his grave is in Zabul, may his soul rest in peace“.
The incident is the latest in a series of recent deadly attacks in Kabul.
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Pakistan has historically supported the Taliban insurgents and many Afghans accuse it of continuing to nurture militant sanctuaries on its soil in the hope of maintaining influence in Afghanistan. However, Taliban spokesperson Zabiullah Mujahid claimed that the attack targeted two vehicles belonging to foreign coalition forces and that all people aboard were killed.
