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A huge car bombing rattled eastern Logar province on Friday evening during Iftar –110 others received injuries with high school pupils among the casualties
AT News
KABUL: A huge car bomb blast killed at least 24 people and wounded dozens others in eastern Logar province. A car packed with explosives detonated in Pul-e- Alam, the provincial capital city on Friday evening during Iftar time. Another 110 people, including 16 children and 12 women received injuries with high school pupils among the casualties.
The blast occurred inside a guesthouse at a time when the guests including the students were breaking their fast during the Holy Month of Ramadan. According to the Ministry of Interior, nearby residential homes and a hospital were damaged in the blast that the government blamed the Taliban for.
The car bombing took place in the 1st PD of the city, said Tariq Arian, a spokesman for the ministry of interior. “The blast occurred at around 7:00pm Friday evening, in which 21 people were killed and 91 others were wounded,” he added.
Though no group, including the Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, but Mr. Arian blamed the Taliban for the attack.
“All the people were civilians who lost their lives or received injuries. The Taliban are behind this huge crime,” Mr. Arian added.
But in a statement, the Provincial Press Office said that at least 24 people were killed and 110 others were wounded.
Most of the students, who wanted to participate in university exams, are among the casualties, the statement said, adding the students had come from Azra district to the provincial capital city.
12 women, 16 children and 11 staffers of the Nayeb Aminullah Khan’s hospitals are among the wounded people, the statement added.
President Ashraf Ghani strongly condemned the terrorist attack in Logar, saying the “Taliban do not desist from killing innocent people and damaging public institutions even during the Holy Month of Ramadan.”
The Taliban by continuing devastated war and violence against the people had once again revealed that they don’t have intention to resolve the current crisis through peaceful way, rather complicating the situation and slipping away the created peace opportunity, president Ghani was quoted in a statement issued by his office.
Meanwhile, Chairman of the High Council for National Reconciliation, Dr. Abdullah Abdullah tweeted, “I strongly condemn cowardly terrorist attacks against the civilians in Pul-e Alam in Logar Province during Iftar time in Ramadan. Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families at this difficult time.”
In a press briefing on Saturday, the Minister of Interior, Hayatullah Hayat blamed the Taliban for carrying out the Logar bombing, terming it “a crime against humanity.”
“Taliban rebels have lost capability to engage in face-to-face fight with the Afghan security forces and carry out cowardly attacks like Logar where the civilians are the only victim,” Mr. Hayat added.
The Logar bombing is not the first incident as only on Friday, the Taliban rebels killed at least 25 civilians and wounded 56 others in different attacks around the country, Mr. Hayat added.
Former President Hamid Karzai in a statement condemned the attack as cowardly and an act by Afghanistan’s enemies. He asked parties to the conflict to expedite their efforts for peace.
The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan in a tweet said: UN outraged by suicide-vehicle blast at a guesthouse in Pul-e Alam Logar last night which killed 21 men and injured more than 100 other persons, including 16 children and 12 women, according to preliminary findings. Our thoughts are with the families of the victims.”
The French embassy in Kabul in a statement said they condemn in the strongest terms those who deliberately targeted civilians in the Logar car bomb attack.
“Such senseless terrorist violence must come to an end, the people of Afghanistan deserve peace,” the embassy said.
Turkey’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a statement said, “We condemn the perpetrators of this heinous terrorist attack and hope that they will be held accountable before justice.”
“Horrible to learn about yesterday’s (Friday) truck bomb attack on a guesthouse in Logar, with high school students and police officers among those murdered. We condemn this and all acts of violence against Afghans. My condolences to the families and friends of the victims,” US Chargé d’Affaires Ross Wilson said in a tweet.
It was not immediately clear who was behind the blast.
Violence in Afghanistan has escalated in recent weeks after US President Joe Biden announced the final date of US troops from Afghanistan by September 11.
The decision made in a bid to end two decades of foreign military presence in Afghanistan.
