Kabul: A suicide car bomb attack targeted the entrance of Kabul airport in Afghanistan on Monday, killing at least five civilians and injuring seventeen. Taliban claimed the responsibility for the attack.
A convoy of armoured cars was targeted in the attack on the Hamid Karzai International Airport road, the security officials said. However, Taliban spokesperson Zabiullah Mujahid claimed that the attack targeted two vehicles belonging to foreign coalition forces and that all people aboard were killed.
The attack took place at the first checkpoint near Afghan airport and a vehicle carrying foreign nationals was also damaged, Pajhwok Afghan news tweeted. Nearby shops were destroyed and the windows of a wedding hall at the intersection were shattered, reports quoted eyewitnesses.
The Pajhwok Afghan news also tweeted images from the blast site:
Suicide attack in front gate of Kabul Airport. Photo by Baktash Sakhizada #Afghanistan pic.twitter.com/8zGLLXV8v5
— Pajhwok Afghan News (@pajhwok) August 10, 2015
Visuals showed thick smoke plumes billowing from the site of explosion and the area was cordoned off as ambulances rushed to rescue survivors.
Meanwhile, there were reports of another suicide attack in Hemland province on Monday targeting security personals inside district governor house. Reports said that Afghan MP from Helmand province escaped the suicide attack.
The attacks come soon after Kabul was rocked by a series of attacks by Taliban in last couple of days that claimed dozens of lives. Though no one has come forward to take responsibility for the attack, it appears to be another aggressive act by Taliban which has been stepping up attacks in last few days after there were reports of rift within the group.
Three Taliban-staged attacks on the fateful Friday last week killed more than 50 people including a US serviceman when a NATO coalition base was targeted. Also 27 students were killed in a suicide bomb attack on Police Academy in the capital on the same day.
The attacks come after differences cropped up within Taliban in wake of the appointment of Akhtar Mansour as the new chief following the reports of Mullah Omar's death.
The UN suggests the wave of attacks were triggered as a result of the same power struggle within Taliban after Mullah Omar's death hit headlines.
