At least 50 children wounded in Taliban attack on Kabul
At least 50 children were among nearly 100 people wounded
Monday when the Taliban detonated a powerful car bomb in an area of Kabul
housing military and government buildings, officials said.
The rush-hour blast, which sent a plume of smoke into the
air and shook buildings nearly two kilometers (1.2 miles) away, was followed by
gunmen storming a building and triggering a gun battle with special forces in
the Puli Mahmood Khan neighborhood of the Afghan capital.
The health ministry said at least one person had been killed
and 93 wounded.
Among them were 50 children, the education ministry said in
a statement, adding that most had been hurt by flying glass and were in stable
condition.
Some social media images purportedly taken at a hospital
showed wounded, stunned children in school uniforms, still clutching books as
they arrived for treatment.
In its statement, the education ministry said five schools
had been partially damaged, and asked "all sides involved in fighting to
guarantee the safety of students, teachers, education workers and
schools".
The Taliban claimed the attack, which came just two days
after the insurgents began a seventh round of talks with the US in Qatar as
Washington eyes a breakthrough before Afghanistan's September presidential
election.
Militant spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said the insurgents had
targeted a defense ministry building in the area, which was quickly blocked off
by Afghan forces and ambulances, with helicopter gunships seen overhead as
gunfire continued.
Authorities have not confirmed the target, but Interior
ministry spokesman Nasrat Rahimi said the area had been cordoned off by special
forces who were "bringing down" the attackers, with at least two
killed.
"Security forces also rescued 210 civilians from
buildings nearby," he said.
AFP reporters could hear gunshots and multiple smaller
explosions as fighting continued nearly seven hours after the first blast.
"We were sitting inside the office when the world
turned upside down on us," Zaher Usman, an employee at a branch of the
culture ministry, which he said stands just 150 meters (yards) from the blast.
Brief lockdown
"When I opened my eyes, the office was filled with
smoke and dust and everything was broken, my colleagues were screaming,"
Usman told AFP by telephone.
Shams Amini, a spokesman for the Afghan Football Federation,
told AFP that the blast occurred near their HQ gates, and said some colleagues
had been injured.
Nearby Shamshad TV station, which was attacked in 2017,
aired images of broken glass and damage to its offices. "I was
terrified," Shamshad anchor Hashmat Stanikzai told AFP. A media watchdog
said seven Shamshad journalists were among the wounded.
The attack came as the US was set to begin a third day of
negotiations with the militants in Doha. There was no immediate confirmation if
they would go ahead after the blast.
With the attack still ongoing, the Taliban spokesman in Doha
again insisted that the insurgents will not negotiate with Kabul.
"Once the timeline for the withdrawal of foreign forces
is set in the presence of international observers, then we will begin the talks
to the Afghan sides, but we will not talk to the Kabul administration as a
government," Suhail Shaheen tweeted.
A potential deal would see the US agree to withdraw its
troops after more than 17 years in Afghanistan, igniting deep concerns among
Afghans who fear Washington will rush for the exits and allow the militants to
return to some semblance of power.
In return, the Taliban would guarantee the country would
never again become a safe haven for violent extremism, as happened with al-Qaeda
before the September 11, 2001 attacks.
However, US officials have insisted that "nothing is
agreed until everything is agreed", including intra-Afghan talks.