A Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility for the attack on the police academy, in which security sources said at least 50 or 60 people had been killed or wounded.
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Afghan security personnel are seen through the shattered window of a vehicle as they stand alert at the scene of a Taliban attack in Kandahar, Afghanistan, on August 6, 2015.
Later, a suicide bomber dressed in a police uniform and backpack detonated an explosion at the gate of a police academy, killing multiple cadets and guards. According to Afghan intelligence, Omar died more than two years ago in a hospital in Karachi, Pakistan. Two insurgents have been killed within the assault, he added, with out giving additional particulars.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on Friday threatened a rapid and forceful response to the earlier attack, which he said was aimed at diverting public attention from the Taliban’s leadership struggle.
Details were still unclear but the explosions took place near several potential targets, including a counter-narcotics police camp near to a base for US security contractors and a US special forces base known as Camp Integrity. The blast was heard across the city of 4.5 million.
However, the number of women casualties rose by 23% and children by 13%.
On Friday, Pakistani Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif told the National assembly that reports of Omar’s death in Quetta or in a hospital in Karachi were untrue.
The peace talks have been indefinitely postponed following the announcement of Mullah Omar’s dying.
The loss of Mullah Omar has raised concerns of a succession crisis that could splinter the group between relatively moderate figures who back Pakistan-mediated peace talks and more radical field commanders committed to overthrowing the Kabul government and reverting to the harsh Islamic rule of the 1990s.
Mr Ghani said he would respond to the attacks with “force and power” but also said he was also determined to continue with efforts to bring peace to the country.
The source said: “The nature of the blast looked like a auto bombing. The attack was intended to cause mass murder”, he said.
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Some members of the Taliban, including Mullah Omar’s son, Yaqub, and the former leader’s brother, Mullah Abdul Manan, have voiced opposition to the appointment of Mansour and requested a new vote. The death of their leader was confirmed by both the Kabul government and Taliban spokesmen last week.
