A suicide bomber wearing an Afghan army uniform set off a huge explosion on Saturday while trying to board a military bus in the capital, killing 30 people, most of them soldiers, officials said. The Taliban claimed responsibility.
The blast, which also injured 30 people, ripped off the roof of the bus and tore out its sides, leaving a charred hull of burnt metal. It was reminiscent of the deadliest insurgent attack in Afghanistan since the US-led invasion in 2001 — when a bomber boarded a police academy bus at Kabul’s busiest transportation hub in June and killed 35 people.
Dozens of civilians and police officers searched for bodies. Police and soldiers climbed trees to retrieve some body parts. Nearby businesses also were damaged. “For 10 or 15 seconds, it was like an atom bomb — fire, smoke and dust everywhere,” said Mohammad Azim, a police officer who witnessed the explosion.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai said 30 people were killed — 28 soldiers and two civilians.
The Health Ministry said another 30 were wounded.
“It was a terrible tragedy, no doubt an act of extreme cowardice," Karzai said. “Whoever did this was against people, against humanity, definitely against Islam. A man who calls himself Muslim will not blow up innocent people in the middle of Ramadan,” he said.
A purported Taliban spokesperson, Zabiullah Mujahid, claimed the militant group was responsible for the blast in a text message to The Associated Press.
Mujahid said the bomber was a Kabul resident named Azizullah.
The bus had stopped in front of a movie theatre to pick up soldiers when a bomber wearing a military uniform tried to board around 6:45 am local time, army spokesman Gen Mohammad Zahir Azimi said.
“Typically there are people checking the IDs of soldiers who want to board the bus,” Azimi said. “While they were checking the IDs, the bomber tried to get on the bus and blew himself up there”.
Kabul’s police chief, Gen Mohammad Aslam Hasas, said Afghan forces shouldn’t let strangers get close to them at bus stops. “They know who should be on the bus,” Hasas said. “Whenever they see a stranger’s face, they should prevent them from getting close”.
The theatre, a restaurant and a pharmacy were among several shops that were badly damaged. A woman who lives nearby was woken up by the explosion, which shattered her bedroom window, cutting her feet. The blast’s force sprayed a chunk of scalp onto a nearby rooftop.
Sulahdin, an army officer at the scene who goes by one name, said about 50 people were on the bus. Adbul Karim, a witness, said several people in the back of the vehicle survived.
Taliban attacks typically target international and Afghan military and police, though civilians are often killed or wounded as well. The Taliban have launched more than 100 suicide attacks this year, a record pace.
More than 4,500 people have been killed in insurgency-related violence this year, according to an Associated Press count based on figures from Western and Afghan officials.
Meanwhile, the International Committee of the Red Cross has established contact with the armed group that kidnapped four of its workers but no progress has been made, officials said on Friday.
The four ICRC employees — a national from Myanmar, one from Macedonia and two from Afghanistan — were seized on Wednesday in the central province of Ghazni while trying to secure the release of a German captive.
“We have established contact with all parties concerned with the aim of resolving this situation as quickly as possibly,” said Graziella Leite, an ICRC spokeswoman in Afghanistan.
Taliban offered a place in govt
Kabul, ap: President Hamid Karzai on Saturday offered to meet personally with Taliban leader Mullah Omar for peace talks and give the militants a high position in a government ministry as a way to end the rising insurgency in Afghanistan. Reiterating a call for negotiations, Karzai also said he was willing to meet with factional warlord leader and former Prime Minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar.
“If I find their address, there is no need for them to come to me, I’ll personally go there and get in touch with them,” Karzai said. “Esteemed Mullah, sir, and esteemed Hekmatyar, sir, why are you destroying the country?”
Karzai said he has contacts with Taliban militants through tribal elders but that there are no direct and open government communication channels with the fighters.
“If a group of Taliban or a number of Taliban come to me and say, ‘President, we want a department in this or in that ministry or we want a position as deputy minister... and we don’t want to fight anymore... If there will be a demand and a request like that to me, I will accept it because I want conflicts and fighting to end in Afghanistan,” Karzai said.
“I wish there would be a demand as easy as this. I wish that they would want a position in the government. I will give them a position,” he said.
Karzai earlier this month renewed a call for talks with the Taliban, and a spokesman for the militant group initially said the fighters might be open to negotiations. But spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi later said foreign troops must first leave the country, a demand Karzai today said he would not meet.
