Taliban attack kills 7 in Afghanistan’s Ghazni

Kabul, May 18 (IANS) At least seven people were killed and 25 others injured in a Taliban attack and an ensuing gunfight outside an intelligence agency camp in Afghanistan’s Ghazni province on Monday, a security source said.

The incident occurred when a Taliban suicide bomber detonated a massive car bomb at around 5.30 a.m. outside a National Directorate for Security (NDS) camp in the provincial capital of Ghazni city, the source told Xinhua news agency

The blast enabled a second group of militants to engage with security force members before trying to enter the camp.

The explosion also damaged a nearby Islamic affairs office, the source added.

Security forces have cordoned off the area where sporadic clashes between attackers and security forces continued.

Thick gray smoke was seen rising above the site.

On Saturday, the Afghan government’s Office of National Security Council (ONSC) said that over 120 Afghan civilians were killed and 350 others injured in Taliban attacks over the past three weeks despite an agreement signed between the militants and the US for peace in Afghanistan.

On May 13, President Ashraf Ghani ordered the Afghan National Security and Defense Forces to return to “offence mode” against the insurgents due to the increasing number of attacks.

He made the statement in the wake of deadly attacks in Kabul and Nangarhar a day ago which killed over 50 people.

On April 25, ONSC figures provided indicated that the Taliban had conducted an average of 55 attacks per day since the signing of the peace deal with the US in Doha on February 29.

It said that the Taliban conducted 2,804 attacks from the beginning of March to April 19, adding the group “does not remain committed to the reconciliation process that will help the country to end decades of war”.

–IANS

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