Kabul (December 25, 2018): A suicide terror attack on a Kabul government compound has resulted in the killing of at least 43 people, making it one of the deadliest assaults on the Afghan capital this year.
Although, no militant group has claimed responsibility for the raid, which caps a bloody year for Afghanistan as long-suffering civilians and security forces are slaughtered in record numbers.
Nonetheless, 10 people were wounded in this massacre on a site where the Ministry of Public Works and an office that handles pensions and benefits for war veterans are located, the spokesman Waheed Majroh said.
Gunmen stormed the compound mid-afternoon after detonating a car bomb at the entrance, sending terrified government workers running for their lives. Some jumped from windows several floors high to escape the militants.
Hundreds more were trapped inside buildings for hours as heavily armed security forces swarmed the area, engaging the attackers in a fierce gun battle punctuated by multiple explosions.
At least four militants, including the suicide bomber, were killed and more than 350 people freed, officials said. Most of the dead and wounded were civilians, who have borne the brunt of the 17-year war.
It was the deadliest assault in the Afghan capital since a suicide bomber blew himself up in the middle of a religious gathering last month, killing at least 55 people.
President Ashraf Ghani, whose government has been skewered over its security failures, said: “terrorists attack civilian targets to hide their defeat on the battleground”.
Afghanistan’s de facto prime minister Abdullah Abdullah also sounded a defiant note as he blamed the Taliban for the attack.
“Every attack they carry out against our people, our resolve is further strengthened to eliminate them,” he said.
But their statements belie the grim reality on the battlefield where the Taliban have the upper hand.
Afghanistan’s largest militant group has made significant territorial gains this year as its fighters inflict record casualties on government forces.
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