15 Afghan army trainees killed in Kabul suicide attack

It was the second suicide attack in the Afghan capital in 24 hours


Afp October 21, 2017
PHOTO: AFP

KABUL: A suicide bomber killed 15 Afghan army trainees as they were leaving their base in Kabul on Saturday, the defence ministry said, in the latest deadly attack in the capital.

"This afternoon when a minibus carrying army cadets was coming out of the military academy, a suicide bomber on foot targeted them, martyring 15 and wounding four," defence ministry spokesperson Dawlat Waziri told AFP.

Massive Kabul truck bomb kills 90, wounds hundreds

It was the second suicide attack in the Afghan capital in 24 hours and the seventh major assault in Afghanistan since Tuesday, taking the total death toll to more than 200, with hundreds more wounded.

The spate of deadly attacks underscores deteriorating security across the war-torn country.

It was also the fifth time since Tuesday that militants have launched a major attack against Afghanistan's beleaguered security forces already badly demoralised by high casualties and desertions.

In the deadliest of the recent attacks, around 50 Afghan soldiers were killed in a Taliban-claimed assault on a military base in the southern province of Kandahar.

Insurgents blasted their way into the compound using two explosives-laden Humvees - a tactic used in three separate attacks this week - officials said.

Dozens killed as Taliban launch fresh assaults on Afghan bases

The militants razed the base in the Chashmo area of Maiwand district to the ground, according to the defence ministry.

Afghan security forces have faced soaring casualties in their attempts to hold back the insurgents since NATO combat forces pulled out of the country at the end of 2014.

Casualties leapt by 35 percent in 2016, with 6,800 soldiers and police killed, according to US watchdog SIGAR.

The insurgents have carried out more complex attacks against security forces in 2017, with SIGAR describing troop casualties in the early part of the year as "shockingly high".

The attacks included assaults on a military hospital in Kabul in March which may have killed up to 100 people, and on a base in Mazar-i-Sharif in April which left 144 people dead.

Pakistan strongly condemns terror attack

Pakistan strongly condemned the attack in a statement issued by the Foreign Office and expressed grief at the 'loss of precious lives'.

Reiterating its strong condemnation of terrorism in all forms and manifestations, it expressed solidarity with the government and people of Afghanistan in their fight against the menace of terror.

"We believe concerted efforts by states, and close cooperation among them, are needed for eliminating the scourge of terrorism," it said.

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