Afghanistan - Talks in jeopardy as 25 killed in Afghan attacks

Taliban Suicide Bomber Muhammad Yousuf Who Carried Out Attack In Kabul

Twenty-five people were killed in two attacks in Afghanistan Saturday, including one in the capital, with the blasts putting attempts by Kabul to persuade the Taliban to join peace talks set for next month in jeopardy.

The Taliban later claimed responsibility for the attack near the Defence Ministry in the centre of Kabul. “Twelve people, including two Afghan soldiers were killed and eight others injured,” a ministry statement said, while a previous toll given by Kabul police chief Abdul Rahman Rahimi stated nine were dead and 13 wounded.

The bomber was on foot, ministry spokesperson Dawlat Waziri added, and detonated the charge as offices closed for the day.

An AFP photographer at the scene saw several ambulances converging at the site of the explosion as police and the army set up a security cordon.

Analysts have previously observed the Taliban stepping up attacks in the heart of the capital to gain leverage ahead of attempted peace negotiations with the Western-backed government in Kabul, against whom they have been fighting a bloody insurgency for more than 14 years.

Earlier on Saturday a suicide bomber on a motorbike struck at a market in Asadabad, the capital of restive Kunar province, killing 13 people and wounding at least 39.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for that attack, which a spokesperson for the provincial governor and a police official both said targeted a tribal leader fiercely opposed to the insurgents, Haji Khan Jan.

The Taliban do not generally claim attacks with high numbers of civilian casualties, saying they only target Afghan soldiers — “stooges” of foreign powers — and NATO troops, considered “invaders”, as well as symbols of the central government.

But civilians are paying a heavy price in the violence tearing the country apart. The number killed or wounded in 2015 was the highest recorded since 2009. According to a UN report published earlier this month, there were more than 11,000 civilian casualties in 2015, including 3,545 deaths.

The blasts come amid fresh efforts by Afghanistan, China, Pakistan and the US to restart talks aimed at ending the Taliban’s long and bloody insurgency in Afghanistan.