KABUL: A car bombing in the Afghanistan’s central province of Ghazni killed at least 30 Afghan security force members on Sunday, officials said, and casualties could increase given the intensity and location of the blast.
Baz Mohammad Hemat, director of the provincial hospital in Ghazni, said 30 bodies and 24 injured people had been transported there. “All of the victims are security personnel,” he said.
The blast targeted a compound of the public protection force, a wing of the Afghan security forces, local officials said.
It damaged civilian residences around the compound, and there could be more casualties from there, they said.
Interior ministry spokesman Tariq Arian confirmed that there had been a car bomb blast but did not provide further information on the target or possible casualties.
No one has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid, when contacted by Reuters, did not confirm or deny responsibility.
Afghanistan has seen a spate of car bombings over the last few months, despite peace talks being under way between negotiation teams of the insurgent Taliban and the government in the Qatari capital of Doha.
Violence in the country, at war for two decades, remains unacceptably high, foreign governments and institutions say, calling for an immediate ceasefire between the Afghan government and Taliban.
Another bombing on Sunday, in the eastern province of Zabul, targeting a top provincial official, killed at least one person and injured 23, said Gul Islam Syaal, the spokesman for the province’s governor.
Haji Ata Jan Haqbayan, head of the provincial council of Zabul, suffered minor injuries in the attack on his convoy.
No one has claimed responsibility for the attack on Haqbayan, an outspoken critic of the Taliban.
Earlier November 14, Afghan forces claimed to have captured the “mastermind” of a brutal attack on Kabul University when fighters stormed classrooms and killed dozens of students earlier this month.
At least 22 people were killed and another 27 wounded when three gunmen rampaged through the university on November 2, spraying classrooms with bullets for several hours.
The brazen daylight assault came amid surging violence across the country that has only worsened in recent months despite the government holding peace talks with the Taliban in Qatar.
“The mastermind behind Kabul University attack has been arrested,” Vice President Amrullah Saleh announced on his Facebook page on Saturday.
The assault, which ended after the three attackers were killed, was planned by a man called Adil, Saleh said.
Adil was recruited by the Haqqani network, Saleh said, giving only one name of the arrested man.
“The attack was carried out to pressure, defame and make the government look weak in front of the people,” he said.–Agencies
