• Military Menu                       

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Industry
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• WMD
• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

Wave Of Bomb Attacks Rattle Kabul, At Least 20 Killed

August 07, 2015
by RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan

Kabul has been hit by a wave of bomb attacks, with three explosions rattling the city in the evening hours of August 7 after a massive truck bomb earlier in the day.

A suicide bomber on August 7 carried out a bomb attack near Kabul's police academy, killing 20 police recruits -- the second major terrorist attack in the Afghan capital within 24 hours.

Police say the attacker walked into a group of recruits who were waiting outside of the academy during the evening of August 7 and detonated his explosives-laden vest.

Within an hour, large explosions also were heard near Kabul Airport and in a residential airport north of the airport. There were no immediate details about casualties.

Reports said the third and fourth explosions targeted an area close to coalition bases and Afghan government buildings.

Gunfire continued after the attacks and NATO jets were heard flying overhead.

​​In the early morning hours of August 7, a truck packed with explosives was detonated in Kabul's residential Siyah Sang neighborhood near a Defense Ministry compound, killing at least 15 people and injuring about 240.

President Ashraf Ghani's spokesman, Sayed Zafar Hashemi, said in a media briefing on August 7 that 47 women and 30 children were among the wounded in that blast.

Kabul police chief Abdul Rahman Rahimi told RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan that the truck bomb "hit ordinary people and destroyed people's homes and businesses."

He said a wall of the Defense Ministry compound was "partially destroyed" but nobody was hurt inside.

There were no immediate claims of responsibility.

Police do not allow trucks to enter the capital during the day; they can only enter the city between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m.

RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan correspondent Sahar Lewal, who visited the scene of the blast in the morning, said the powerful explosion damaged the bustling area beyond recognition.

'Siyah Sang was a busy neighborhood with private houses and many shops but this morning it looked like a ruin where nobody had lived for many years,' the correspondent said.

'Cars were damaged, the roofs of houses and shops have collapsed, there wasn't one window with glass intact, and contents of shops were scattered everywhere,' she said. 'People were cleaning shattered glasses.'

The correspondent said the power of the blast, which she estimated had left a 10-meter crater in the road, was felt in other areas of the city and could be heard several kilometers away.

Police said officials were searching through the day for anyone trapped under the debris of collapsed buildings.

The U.S. Embassy in Kabul condemned the bombing, saying 'this attack in a heavily populated area shows a complete disregard for human life.'

The truck bomb attack came after the United Nations said in a report on August 5 that a growing number of women and children were being injured or killed in the conflict in Afghanistan.

The UN report said the number of women casualties rose by 23 percent and children's casualties rose by 13 percent during the first half of this year, compared to the same period last year.

With reporting by AFP, AP, and Reuters

Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/powerful-bomb-blast-rocks- kabul-kills-at-least-10-civilians/27175159.html

Copyright (c) 2015. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.