KABUL, Nov 4 (NNN-ANA) – The recent terrorist attacks, reportedly conducted by the affiliates of the Daesh in Afghanistan, have spread fear among Afghans, who believed that peace had returned, following a change of regime in the war-torn country.
“I was very happy after Taliban’s Aug takeover, as I believed that suicide attacks and bomb blasts would not occur any more. But my hopes and wishes for peace shattered, as we witnessed a series of bomb blasts, killings and disappearances in recent weeks,” Kabul resident, Sayyed Hashmat, said.
Earlier yesterday, the Daesh claimed responsibility for a deadly attack on the country’s largest military hospital in the capital, Kabul, according to a statement from the group.
The attack took place on Tuesday, when five Daesh members, armed with guns and suicide bomb jackets, stormed the 400-bed Sardar Mohammad Daud Khan Hospital, in a diplomatic district, killing seven people, including three women, a child and three Taliban members, spokesman for Taliban, Zabihullah Mujahid confirmed, on social media.
At least two attackers detonated their suicide jackets at the gate and in the premise of the hospital.
Among those killed was Maulvi Hamdullah, a key Taliban member, who led the counter-attack, according to multiple sources.
Hamdullah was the first Taliban high-ranking figure to enter the Afghan presidential palace, after the Taliban’s takeover on Aug 15, when former administration officials left the country.
At least 20 people were wounded in the blast and gunfight, according to an Italian-run emergency hospital in Kabul.
“Now we are in fear of the Daesh militants’ terrorist attacks. Everywhere, every location and every place could be the target of their bombings, as we witness they attacked airport and mosques, as well as, Taliban vehicles in big cities in recent weeks,” said resident Hashmat, who runs a small business in Kabul.
The Daesh claimed responsibility for several deadly attacks across the country, since mid-Aug.
On Aug 26, the group claimed a deadly suicide attack at a gate of Kabul International Airport that killed about 180 people, including 13 U.S. soldiers, and wounded over 200 others, when a U.S.-led evacuation operation was ongoing.
The group also staged three suicide bombings against mosques in Kabul, northern Kunduz and southern Kandahar provinces, killing more than 100 people and injuring nearly 250 others, besides bomb blasts against Taliban vehicles in Kabul, Jalalabad and Kunar province.
On Tuesday, Hijratullah Khogianiwal, a civil society activist, and his brother were killed, after gunmen, riding a vehicle, fired on them in Jalalabad, according to local media reports.
Local residents found two bodies after they were executed and hanged in trees in Nangarhar’s Chaparhar district, early Tuesday morning. No details about the killings were available.
Meantime, another Kabul resident and a government employee, Naqibullah Haidari, said, “The Daesh militants were not only attacking innocent people nowadays, but they had also killed scores of people during the past government.”
“I don’t know what is happening in my country. We are fed up with the persistent killings and explosions. All groups claim they are doing well and working for Islam. But they are killing mostly innocent people,” daily wager Baktash, said.
“Attacking civilians, worshippers in mosques, and public facilities like hospitals is immoral and has no justification,” he said.
Local media reported that members of previous administration’s security forces had joined the Daesh outfit, while the Taliban spokesman, Mujahid, has rejected such reports as baseless.
Mujahid said, Taliban security forces were capable enough of smashing any terrorist group and will not allow any Afghan soil to be used against any country.
Senior Taliban officials, Afghan politicians and the UN mission in Afghanistan, strongly condemned Tuesday’s attack.– NNN-ANA
