Dozens killed, wounded in Afghanistan suicide attacks
A Taliban suicide bomber blew himself up near the Afghan defense ministry in Kabul on February 27, causing heavy casualties just hours after an attack in the eastern province of Kunar killed 13 people and put prospects for new peace talks in doubt.
The attack in Kabul killed 15 people and wounded 33, most of them defense ministry staff leaving their offices, according to ministry spokesman Dawlat Waziri.
Witnesses at the scene, where a large plume of smoke spiraled into the sky, said they had seen a number of bodies on the ground. The area was sealed off as police and army vehicles surrounded the blast site.
"I wanted to cross the bridge when I heard an explosion," said a witness who gave his name as Zulgai. "I went to the area and saw as many as 30 people killed and wounded. There were damaged cars and shattered windows everywhere," he said.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, which the movement's spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said had killed 23 officers and wounded 29 others. He said there were no civilian casualties.
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But it remains unclear whether the Taliban, struggling to contain deep internal divisions, will take part in direct peace talks that the four-nation group hope will be held in Islamabad as early as next week.
In a statement issued after the attack in Kunar, President Ashraf Ghani said his government would not conduct peace talks with groups that killed innocent people and said security forces would step up the fight against terrorism.
The Taliban, fighting to restore hardline Islamist rule in Afghanistan, has conducted a series of attacks in Kabul and other areas this year and has pressed its military campaign in the southern province of Helmand, where it has forced government troops to pull out of a number of districts.
