Kabul, April 22 (IANS) At least three people were injured Sunday after a bomb went off in Afghanistan’s northern province of Kunduz, Xinhua reported.
“An explosive device attached to a bicycle was detonated at around 5.45 p.m. Sunday in Haydar Qal area of provincial capital of Kunduz city after a police van passed by the area,” said a police source.
The injured included two civilians and a policeman, the source added.
Kabul, April 21 (IANS) Afghan security forces have seized 10,000 kg of explosives from five militants, including three Pakistanis, who were planning to carry out multiple strikes in Kabul, an official said Saturday.
The militants were planning to strike in crowded areas, the spokesman of the National Directorate of Security, Nazari said Saturday.
“If this amount of explosives had been used, it could have caused large-scale bloodshed,” The News quoted Nazari as saying.
Kabul, April 18 (IANS) Twenty Taliban militants, including a rebel commander, handed over their weapons Wednesday to the authorities in northeastern Afghanistan and joined a government-backed peace process, an official said.
The fighters led by their commander Mawlawi Fazlulllah have now joined the peace process, provincial government spokesman Abdul Marouf Rasikh told Xinhua.
Fazlulllah served as key Taliban commander in Badakhshan province, 300 km from Kabul.
Kabul, April 16 (IANS/RIA Novosti) The coordinated attacks on Afghan capital Kabul and three provinces Sunday were a failure on the part of NATO and domestic intelligence forces, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said Monday.
“The fact that terrorists were able to infiltrate Kabul and other provinces is an intelligence failure for us and especially for NATO, and should be seriously investigated,” Karzai said in a statement.
He, however, praised the country’s security officers for preventing further escalation of violence and saving the lives of dozens of civilians.
Karzai said they “proved to the people their ability to defend their land on their own”.
The Taliban said the attack targeted the German and British embassies as well as the headquarters of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).
According to the presidential press service, four civilians and 11 security officers were killed Sunday and overnight in a series of attacks on Kabul’s heavily guarded government district and the eastern Nangarhar, Logar and Paktia provinces. A total of 32 civilians and 46 officers were injured.
Western forces would leave Afghanistan under a plan to hand over full responsibility of the security to Afghan forces by 2014.
The Taliban described the the violence as a “coordinated attack” which demonstrated that its members can strike whenever and wherever they chose.
–IANS/RIA Novosti
pm/dg
Kabul, April 16 (IANS) At least 48 people, including 36 terrorists, were killed and 65 injured when an 18-hour dramatic siege of the Afghan capital Kabul by Taliban suicide attackers ended early Monday.
Taliban rebels stormed Kabul Sunday with intense gunfire and rocket attacks targeting key establishments in the heavily guarded diplomatic area. The assault ended after all the attackers were killed Monday.
Taliban attacks on government interests has left 48 people, including the attackers, dead and injured 65, Interior Minister Bismillah Mohammadi said.
He said the rebels armed with suicide vests, assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades began their offensive Sunday and security forces promptly launched a fierce counter-offensive.
Taliban militants fighting Afghan and NATO-led forces launched one of their biggest ever attacks in capital city Kabul, Nangarhar’s provincial capital Jalalabad city 120 km east of Kabul, Paktia’s provincial capital Gerdez 100 km south and Logar’s provincial capital Pul-e-Alam 60 km south of capital Kabul on Sunday as part of what they called the “spring offensive”.
It comes as Western forces prepare to leave the country under a plan to hand over full responsibility for security to Afghan forces by 2014.
After the fierce fighting came to an end in Kabul, police said Taliban militants have been brought under control and all the attackers have been killed.
The attacks began at 1.35 p.m. Sunday and were over by 7.30 a.m. Monday, reported Xinhua.
“The last of militants were overrun in Darul Aman area (of Kabul) at 7.30 a.m. today (Monday) and all the attackers have been killed,” the police statement said.
Sunday’s attack on the Afghanistan capital was the first major assault in more than six months. The heavily guarded area of Kabul, where the attacks have been carried out, is frequented by foreigners and is rarely the scene of violence.
As the security forces fought the heavily-armed Taliban rebels, a string of explosions rocked Kabul early Monday.
The explosions persisted for some time. They followed gunfire that lasted well into Sunday night in an area that houses government offices and embassies, reported CNN.
US Ambassador Ryan Crocker suggested the fighting may be the work of the Haqqani tribal militant network rather than the Taliban, telling CNN television that the Taliban was not “good enough”.
The Taliban said Sunday’s attacks marked the start of a “spring offensive”.
The last attack on Kabul of this scale was witnessed in September 2011 when heavily armed insurgents took over an unfinished high-rise building and opened fire on the US embassy and NATO headquarters. That attack left 14 Afghans dead.
Kabul, April 16 (IANS) The synchronised terror attack launched by the Taliban in Kabul is over and all attackers have been killed following an overnight operation that saw a string of explosions Monday morning, authorities said.
Taliban militants have been brought under control and all the attackers have been killed after hours of fierce offensive, Kabul police said in a statement released here Monday. There was still no official estimate of how many people were killed.
The attacks, which included suicide bombings and heavy gunfire, began at 1.35 p.m. Sunday and was over at 7.30 a.m. Monday, reported Xinhua.
On Sunday, the Taliban launched a brazen assault in Kabul and elsewhere in the country, targeting the embassies of the US and Germany, the Afghanistan parliament, the NATO headquarters and an airbase used by the American troops.
“The last of militants were overrun in Darul Aman area (of Kabul) at 7.30 a.m. today (Monday) and all the attackers have been killed,” the police statement said.
The statement, however, did not reveal the exact number of the attackers who were killed. It simply said all the attackers have been killed.
Though there was no clarity about how many people were killed in Kabul, the interior ministry said Afghan security forces backed by NATO-led troops have killed 47 Taliban militants and injured 31 over the past 24 hours.
“The Afghan National Police in harmony with the National Army and backed by the NATO-led Coalition Forces launched 11 joint operations in several provinces including Kabul over the past 24 hours during which 47 armed insurgents were killed, 31 wounded and 21 were arrested,” a statement added.
However, it did not say if security forces suffered any casualties.
Sunday’s attack on the Afghanistan capital was the first major assault in more than six months. The heavily guarded area of Kabul, where the attacks have been carried out, is frequented by foreigners and is rarely the scene of violence.
As the security forces fought the heavily-armed Taliban rebels, a string of explosions rocked Kabul early Monday.
The explosions persisted for some time. They followed gunfire that lasted well into Sunday night in an area that houses government offices and embassies, reported CNN.
Interior Ministry spokesperson Sediq Seddiqi stressed that the Taliban guerrillas “have no choice except surrendering or to be killed by the Afghan forces”.
The Taliban said Sunday’s attacks marked the start of a “spring offensive”.
The last attack on Kabul of this scale was witnessed in September 2011 when heavily armed insurgents took over an unfinished high-rise building and opened fire on the US embassy and NATO headquarters. That attack left 14 Afghans dead.
