A coordinated double suicide bombing hit central Kabul on Monday morning, killing 25 people, including journalists. At least 45 people were wounded, officials have reported.
The suicide attacks took place in the central Shash Darak area, which is home to the NATO headquarters and a number of embassies in Afghanistan. The second was meant to hit those rushing to the scene of the attack to help the victims of the first blast.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but both Taliban and Islamic State group are active and have repeatedly claimed attacks in Kabul. The Taliban said the offensive was partly a response to US President Donald Trump’s new strategy for Afghanistan announced last August, which gave US forces more leeway to go after insurgents.
The first suicide bomber was on a motorbike and the second attacker was among the crowd of reporters who rushed to the scene of the first attack. The second attacker pretended to be one of the media members, then detonated his explosives while still among the reporters.
Kabul chief of police, Dawood Amin said the area of Kabul that was hit, which has many foreign offices, was quickly sealed off. Mohammad Mousa Zahir, director of Wazir Akbarkhan Hospital, said several people suffering injuries from the blasts were being treated at the hospital.
President Ashraf Ghani’s government is under pressure on multiple fronts this year as it prepares to hold October’s long-delayed elections while its security forces struggle to get the upper hand on the battlefield and prevent civilian casualties.
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