Bomb Blast Kills University Professor in Kabul
KABUL (Dispatches) – A Kabul University professor was killed when a bomb hit his car in Afghanistan’s capital on Thursday, police officials said, the first attack in days after a series of such incidents in recent weeks.
Mubasher Muslimyar, a law professor, was killed in Kabul along with another person, said Ferdaws Faramarz, a police spokesman. The identity of the second individual killed was not immediately known, but media reports said he was a professor too.
Kabul has seen a series of attacks with small magnetic bombs attached under vehicles and other targeted killings against members of security forces, judges, government officials, civil society activists and journalists in recent weeks.
On January 17, heavily armed militants gunned down two female judges working for the Supreme Court in the capital. An Afghan judge was also shot dead in an ambush in the eastern city of Jalalabad earlier this month.
No group claimed responsibility for the attack but government officials say Taliban militants are to be blame and use such tactics to instill fear while avoiding large-scale civilian casualties.
The government announced last week that it had arrested a militant group behind making and deploying sticky bombs, but such attacks do continue to occur.
Violence in parts of the country has increased recently as talks between the government and Taliban militants have largely stalled while U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration reviews how to handle the process, including a troop withdrawal.
Afghan military officials said both local security forces and the Taliban are preparing for fresh fighting in the spring.
The U.S. along with its NATO allies invaded Afghanistan in 2001 under the guise of fighting terrorism and dismantling al-Qaeda.
The invasion — which has turned into the longest war in U.S. history — removed the Taliban from power, but the militant group has never stopped its attacks, citing the foreign military presence as one of the main reasons behind its continued militancy.
Nearly two decades after the invasion, Washington struck a deal with the Taliban in the Qatari capital of Doha early last year.
Under the deal, all foreign troops were expected to leave Afghan soil by May in exchange for the Taliban to halt their attacks on American forces.
Mubasher Muslimyar, a law professor, was killed in Kabul along with another person, said Ferdaws Faramarz, a police spokesman. The identity of the second individual killed was not immediately known, but media reports said he was a professor too.
Kabul has seen a series of attacks with small magnetic bombs attached under vehicles and other targeted killings against members of security forces, judges, government officials, civil society activists and journalists in recent weeks.
On January 17, heavily armed militants gunned down two female judges working for the Supreme Court in the capital. An Afghan judge was also shot dead in an ambush in the eastern city of Jalalabad earlier this month.
No group claimed responsibility for the attack but government officials say Taliban militants are to be blame and use such tactics to instill fear while avoiding large-scale civilian casualties.
The government announced last week that it had arrested a militant group behind making and deploying sticky bombs, but such attacks do continue to occur.
Violence in parts of the country has increased recently as talks between the government and Taliban militants have largely stalled while U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration reviews how to handle the process, including a troop withdrawal.
Afghan military officials said both local security forces and the Taliban are preparing for fresh fighting in the spring.
The U.S. along with its NATO allies invaded Afghanistan in 2001 under the guise of fighting terrorism and dismantling al-Qaeda.
The invasion — which has turned into the longest war in U.S. history — removed the Taliban from power, but the militant group has never stopped its attacks, citing the foreign military presence as one of the main reasons behind its continued militancy.
Nearly two decades after the invasion, Washington struck a deal with the Taliban in the Qatari capital of Doha early last year.
Under the deal, all foreign troops were expected to leave Afghan soil by May in exchange for the Taliban to halt their attacks on American forces.