Three killed, 38 wounded as twin Taliban attacks rock Kabul

Smoke rises from the site of a blast and gun battle between Taliban and Afghan forces in Kabul on March 1, 2017. Mohammad Ismail / Reuters

KABUL // At least three people have been killed and 38 wounded in continuing violence in the Afghan capital sparked by near-simultaneous Taliban assaults on two security compounds.

The carnage began when a suicide car bomber struck an Afghan police precinct in western Kabul and a gun battle – which is still ongoing – ensued, the interior ministry said.

Five minutes later a suicide bomber blew himself up at the gates of an Afghan intelligence agency branch in eastern Kabul as another attacker was gunned down while trying to enter the compound, the ministry added.

After the car bomber hit the police station another attacker entered the building and took a position inside which he is still holding, a ministry official said.

“Security forces are still engaged in fighting,” the official added.

The Taliban claimed both assaults, with spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid calling them “martyrdom attacks” in a Twitter message.

The health ministry said the wounded, some of them in critical condition, had been rushed to hospitals.

“More casualties are expected as the ambulances are on their way,” said ministry spokesman Waheed Majroh.

Afghan police and troops are battling a resurgent Taliban as the militants escalate nationwide attacks, even in winter months when the fighting usually wanes.

Repeated bids to launch peace negotiations have failed, and an intense new fighting season is expected to begin in the spring.

The latest violence comes two days after an Afghan policeman linked to the Taliban shot dead 11 of his colleagues at a checkpoint in the southern province of Helmand, in the latest so-called insider attack.

Such attacks – when Afghan soldiers and police turn their guns on their colleagues or on international troops – have sapped morale and caused deep mistrust within security ranks.

* Agence France-Presse