Attempt on life: Afghan presidential hopeful escapes attack

Six killed in back-to-back blasts targeting Abdullah Abdullah in Kabul.

KABUL/ ISLAMABAD:

Afghan presidential frontrunner Dr Abdullah Abdullah escaped an assassination attempt on Friday when two blasts hit his campaign motorcade in the capital, killing at least six people. It was the second attack targeting Abdullah during the fractious election season, which has seen an uptick in violence with the Taliban threatening to disrupt the polls.

Abdullah said he was unhurt in Friday's blasts but lost three of his campaign colleagues who were among the six civilians killed, according to the interior ministry.

“When I was leaving the rally from the People's Islamic Unity Party, our car was hit by a roadside bomb and destroyed,” Abdullah said at another rally soon afterwards. “Based on initial police information, six people were killed and 22 others wounded in the attack,” the ministry said in a statement.

Blood was splattered near one vehicle in the convoy which was badly charred, while medics carried a body away on a stretcher. The blast site was cordoned off by security officials as ambulances rushed to the scene and took the wounded to hospital, making their way through a sandstorm that hit the capital.

“The first attack was a suicide car bomb on a convoy of Dr Abdullah Abdullah and the second was a mine attack,” said Sayed Gul Agha Hashemi, head of Kabul police's criminal investigation branch.

No one has so far claimed responsibility for the attack that came ahead of the second-round presidential election on June 14.

"We condemn the attack on respected presidential candidate,” Abdullah’s rival in the presidential race Ashraf Ghani said on Twitter. “This is the act of the enemies of Afghanistan to disrupt the democratic process in the country.”

Karzai also denounced the attack as "the work of the enemies of Afghanistan who don't want Afghanistan to have a free and peaceful election".

Pakistan condemns attack

Pakistan also condemned the deadly attack. “Pakistan condemns the terrorist attack on the convoy of Presidential candidate Dr Abdullah Abdullah in Kabul today, in which several innocent lives were lost and many were injured. Our thoughts and prayers are with the bereaved families,” the Foreign Office said in a statement.

“We are confident that the people of Afghanistan would defeat any attempt aimed at thwarting their democratic journey and their quest for peace and progress,” it added. “Pakistan, for its part, will continue to support all efforts for peaceful elections and democratic transition in Afghanistan.”

Published in The Express Tribune, June 7^th, 2014.