Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has called on Pakistan to crack down on Taliban insurgents after a suicide vehicle bomb attack near the global airport in Kabul killed five people.
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Police in Afghanistan’s capital say a suicide bomber has attacked a checkpoint near the entrance to Kabul’s worldwide airport.
The Kabul provincial police chief, Abdul Rahman Rahimi, told The Associated Press that a auto packed with explosives blew up at the busy intersection.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the attack in an email sent to media.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation mission in Afghanistan has not yet commented on the bombing, which the Afghan interior ministry denounced as a “heinous acts (that goes) against the values of humanity”.
The wave of bombings over the weekend-resulting in over 50 deaths and hundreds of injuries- has been seen by many as the fallout of a leadership struggle following the confirmation of Mullah Omar’s 2013 death (and subsequent revelation of a two-year coverup) and the recent appointment of Mullah Akhtar Muhammad Mansour to replace him as the leader of the Taliban.
The wave of violence has underscored Afghanistan’s volatile security situation amid a faltering peace process and the potency of the Taliban insurgency, despite it being riven by growing internal divisions. The fracturing of the Taliban seems to have accelerated after the news broke-conveniently right before the second round of peace talks was to take place.
“The enemy who was fighting to gain territory and claim victory, has now had its backbone broken”, he said of the insurgent group.
The interior ministry described them as civilians but local officials and the Taliban said they were militiamen.
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The report said 1,592 civilians were killed, a six percent fall from last year, but the number of injured jumped four percent to 3,329.
