KABUL – A powerful bombing rocked an upmarket district in the Afghan capital Kabul Tuesday, December 15, killing at least eight people and wounding dozens, as the US warned that the Taliban has become harder to defeat.
"Eight people were killed. Four are women. Four others are male,” interior ministry spokesman Zamarai Bashary told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
“And 40 other people have been wounded.”
The blast rocked outside the Heetal Hotel in the Wazir Akbar Khan area, sending thick black smoke into the sky.
“It was a suicide bombing," said Bashary.
The house of former vice-president Ahmed Zai Massoud, brother of late anti-Soviet guerrilla leader Ahmad Shah Massoud, was heavily damaged.
A police source said the former vice president may have been the intended target.
Massoud’s secretary was reportedly killed in the bombing, according to the Doha-based Al-Jazeera television.
"There was an explosion in Wazir Akbar Khan near a foreign guest house, which was also close to my former first vice president's house,” a government official said.
“Two of his bodyguards have been martyred."
The fortified Heetal was also damaged, but not as heavily as nearby houses in the district, which is home to government officials, international organisations and diplomatic residences.
Windows were blown out of many houses and parts of a roof of one house had collapsed.
The blast took place as President Hamid Karzai was expected to attend an anti-corruption conference elsewhere in the Afghan capital.
Tough Taliban
The bombing came shortly after the top US military officer warned that the Taliban has become harder to defeat.
“I remain deeply concerned by the growing level of collusion between the Afghan Taliban and Al-Qaeda and other extremist groups taking refuge across the border in Pakistan," chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen said at the start of his visit to Afghanistan Monday.
"Getting at this network, which is now more entrenched, will be a far more difficult task than it was just one year ago.”
The Taliban was ousted by the US invasion in 2001 following the 9/11 attacks.
Since then, the Afghan group has launched a guerrilla warfare against the US-led foreign troops in the country.
Mullen, who is scheduled to visit Pakistan, said he was concerned with the resurgence of militants in the region.
"As part of this trip, I intend to discuss with Afghan and Pakistani leaders the extent to which we all can better cooperate and coordinate our activities to eliminate the safe havens from which these groups plan and operate."
"Eight people were killed. Four are women. Four others are male,” interior ministry spokesman Zamarai Bashary told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
“And 40 other people have been wounded.”
The blast rocked outside the Heetal Hotel in the Wazir Akbar Khan area, sending thick black smoke into the sky.
“It was a suicide bombing," said Bashary.
The house of former vice-president Ahmed Zai Massoud, brother of late anti-Soviet guerrilla leader Ahmad Shah Massoud, was heavily damaged.
A police source said the former vice president may have been the intended target.
Massoud’s secretary was reportedly killed in the bombing, according to the Doha-based Al-Jazeera television.
"There was an explosion in Wazir Akbar Khan near a foreign guest house, which was also close to my former first vice president's house,” a government official said.
“Two of his bodyguards have been martyred."
The fortified Heetal was also damaged, but not as heavily as nearby houses in the district, which is home to government officials, international organisations and diplomatic residences.
Windows were blown out of many houses and parts of a roof of one house had collapsed.
The blast took place as President Hamid Karzai was expected to attend an anti-corruption conference elsewhere in the Afghan capital.
Tough Taliban
The bombing came shortly after the top US military officer warned that the Taliban has become harder to defeat.
“I remain deeply concerned by the growing level of collusion between the Afghan Taliban and Al-Qaeda and other extremist groups taking refuge across the border in Pakistan," chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen said at the start of his visit to Afghanistan Monday.
"Getting at this network, which is now more entrenched, will be a far more difficult task than it was just one year ago.”
The Taliban was ousted by the US invasion in 2001 following the 9/11 attacks.
Since then, the Afghan group has launched a guerrilla warfare against the US-led foreign troops in the country.
Mullen, who is scheduled to visit Pakistan, said he was concerned with the resurgence of militants in the region.
"As part of this trip, I intend to discuss with Afghan and Pakistani leaders the extent to which we all can better cooperate and coordinate our activities to eliminate the safe havens from which these groups plan and operate."
| Home | Daily News | Jzom |We Are On... |
