Gun Battle Rages in Afghan Capital
KABUL (Dispatches) – Afghan security forces on Monday were battling Taliban gunmen who stormed a building in the capital, Kabul, after a bomb-laden truck exploded near the defense ministry at rush hour, injuring at least 100 people, including 51 children, officials said.
Sporadic gunfire and explosions could be heard in the area where at least three gunman had entered a building near the defense ministry, a security official said.
Special forces cordoned off the area and had rescued 210 people so far, the Interior Ministry said.
"Gunmen have entered a building and they are clashing with the Afghan forces after the powerful blast,” said interior ministry spokesman Nasrat Rahimi.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack.
"The target was the defense ministry’s technical installation,” the militants’ spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, said in a statement.
Afghan security officials said the truck loaded with explosives was detonated near the ministry’s engineering and logistics department.
About 100 wounded people were taken to hospital, said health ministry spokesman Wahidullah Mayar, but there was no immediate word of fatalities.
Fifty-one children in two schools near the blast site were hurt by flying shards of glass, said Nooria Nazhat, a spokeswoman of the education ministry.
"These children were in the classrooms when the blast shattered the glass windows. All injured children were rushed out of their schools,” said Nazhat.
The Taliban militant organization, which frequently carries out attacks, is currently holding "peace” talks with U.S. officials in Doha.
In the previous round of U.S.-Taliban talks earlier this year, the two sides "agreed in draft” on the withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan in return for a Taliban guarantee that its elements would not attack U.S. forces.
The U.S. and its allies invaded Afghanistan under the pretext of the global war on terror. Some 18 years on, the Taliban have only boosted their presence across the country, and Washington is seeking truce with the militants.
Smoke rises from the site of a blast and gunfire in Kabul, Afghanistan July 1.
Sporadic gunfire and explosions could be heard in the area where at least three gunman had entered a building near the defense ministry, a security official said.
Special forces cordoned off the area and had rescued 210 people so far, the Interior Ministry said.
"Gunmen have entered a building and they are clashing with the Afghan forces after the powerful blast,” said interior ministry spokesman Nasrat Rahimi.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack.
"The target was the defense ministry’s technical installation,” the militants’ spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, said in a statement.
Afghan security officials said the truck loaded with explosives was detonated near the ministry’s engineering and logistics department.
About 100 wounded people were taken to hospital, said health ministry spokesman Wahidullah Mayar, but there was no immediate word of fatalities.
Fifty-one children in two schools near the blast site were hurt by flying shards of glass, said Nooria Nazhat, a spokeswoman of the education ministry.
"These children were in the classrooms when the blast shattered the glass windows. All injured children were rushed out of their schools,” said Nazhat.
The Taliban militant organization, which frequently carries out attacks, is currently holding "peace” talks with U.S. officials in Doha.
In the previous round of U.S.-Taliban talks earlier this year, the two sides "agreed in draft” on the withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan in return for a Taliban guarantee that its elements would not attack U.S. forces.
The U.S. and its allies invaded Afghanistan under the pretext of the global war on terror. Some 18 years on, the Taliban have only boosted their presence across the country, and Washington is seeking truce with the militants.
Smoke rises from the site of a blast and gunfire in Kabul, Afghanistan July 1.