An Afghan man cries as he search for his relatives near Camp Integrity, a base housing US special forces that was attacked by militants, in Kabul.
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The American military said early Saturday that one coalition soldier was killed in that attack, which targeted Camp Integrity, an American base in the area.
The Afghans killed were working for NATO’s Resolute Support mission.
The United States urged the Taliban on Saturday to shun violence and join the process as insurgent attacks kill 51 people in Kabul.
Pakistan brokered and hosted inaugural talks between the Afghan government and Taliban officials in early July, but Mullah Omar’s death prompted the insurgent group to pull out of the next round of negotiations.
The terrorist group chose Mullah Akhtar Mansour as his successor and Friday’s attacks were the first claimed by the Taliban under his leadership.
Observers say the escalating violence demonstrates Mullah Mansour’s attempt to boost his image among Taliban cadres and drive attention away from internal divisions over his leadership.
The Afghan intelligence agency announced over a week ago that Mullah Mohammad Omar, the reclusive one-eyed founder and leader of the Taliban, had been dead for more than two years.
At least 26 people were killed and over 28 injured in the suicide attack at the police academy, according to Afghan officials.
A Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility for the attack on the police academy in Kabul. One attacker reportedly detonated a Land Cruiser full of explosives at the compound’s entrance, while three others continued the assault at different areas of the base.
Sayed Zafar Hashimi, the deputy spokesman for President Ashraf Ghani, said the wounded included 47 women and 33 children, the Times reported.
In the day’s first attack, at 1 a.m., a massive truck bomb driven by a suicide attacker blew up in the center of Kabul, killing 15 people and wounding hundreds, almost all of them civilians, according to senior Afghan officials.
The bloodshed began with a truck bomb that exploded in aheavily populated district of the capital and ended with anhours-long battle at a base used by U.S. special forces.
“People should perhaps reassess the line which has been put about that he was leading the movement towards peace”, Michael Semple, a professor at the Institute for the Study of Conflict Transformation and Social Justice at Queens University Belfast, told CNN. “Actions speak louder than words”.
“This news is aimed at influencing the outcome of talks with the Taliban and reflects infighting within the group”, said C. Uday Bhaskar, director of the Society for Policy Studies in New Delhi. That’s also raised questions about the peace process that Ghani has made pivotal to his presidency.
Ramin, 21, who lives near the academy, was coming home when the bomb went off. “Suddenly I saw a column of flame rise up from among the cadets”, he said.
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The figures were slightly higher than in the first half of last year and higher than in any similar period since 2009, the report said.
