Zabiullah Mujahid, a spokesperson for the Taliban, said that four buses carrying around 200 people were stopped by their fighters in Ali Abad District in Kunduz province on Tuesday.
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“One of the attackers detonated his suicide vest inside the compound and the three others were gunned down by police”.
Kabul/Dushanbe: Taliban insurgents stormed a court in the Afghan city of Ghazni on Wednesday, clashing with police for at least an hour in an attack in which 10 people, including all five of the militants, were killed, police said. Government forces later freed most of the abducted passengers in a rescue operation. Security forces then rushed to the scene and killed the three other attackers after a 30-minute siege.
“Kidnapping innocent passengers and barbaric killing over a dozen of them is clear indication of increase in violence committed by Taliban insurgents”, Xinhua quoted Kabul resident Farakh Shah as saying.
“They were identified as government policemen and soldiers by their fingerprints and based on accurate documents”, Mujahed said.
Although no group claimed responsibility for the attack, both Quareshi and Danish blamed the Taliban, who are increasingly active in the area and have been behind mass abductions past year across Afghanistan.
Saleh Mohammad, a shopkeeper in the vicinity, claimed seeing the attack on the court building. He added that 10 of the hostages were later released but that the abductors still have eight people.
Meanwhile, in the eastern Ghazni province, a bomb blast killed a civilian and wounded 12, including a local policeman, said Asadullah Shujayee, the deputy provincial police chief.
The insurgents also launched attacks on several districts in southern Helmand province and on the outskirt of the provincial capital, Lashkar Gah.
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The Quadrilateral Coordination Group, made up of officials from Afghanistan, Pakistan, the United States and China, has been trying to facilitate direct talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban.
