Five policemen killed in attacks in Afghan capital

AFGHANISTAN: Attacks in the Afghan capital left five policemen dead and a high-profile commander wounded, the government said Wednesday, as suspected Taliban continued to hold hostage 150 labourers.

The extremist militia Taliban claimed responsibility for the two attacks in the capital — a deadly ambush on a makeshift police post late Tuesday followed by a bomb blast that struck a team who had gone to investigate early Wednesday.

Taliban regularly storm police posts in Afghanistan but it is rare for such attacks to happen inside the heavily secured capital, which has nonetheless seen several suicide bombings, most often claimed by the insurgents.

Three policemen were shot dead when “armed men” attacked the post on the western edges of Kabul, interior ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary said.

Kabul criminal investigation police chief Alishah Paktiawal, one of the most prominent police commanders in the city who is often immediately on the ground after an attack, went to the area early Wednesday.

“Paktiawal and his men had gone there to investigate an attack on the post last night. As they entered the post, a bomb exploded which killed two officers and slightly injured Paktiawal,” Bashary said.

The post — a small container in an open lot next to a residential area — was destroyed and pools of blood marked where the policemen had fallen. A spokesman for the Taliban, Zabihullah Mujahed, claimed his group was responsible.

“In the early morning, we attacked the post and killed three police. And then Taliban planted a mine and when Alishah Paktiawal’s vehicle arrived, it exploded,” he told an AFP reporter by telephone.

Taliban claims cannot always be trusted and there was no way to independently verify who carried out the attack. Other Islamist factions, crime and personal rivalry also feed into Afghanistan’s daily unrest.

In the far west, meanwhile, more than 150 Afghan labourers were in the fourth day of captivity. Authorities believe they are being held by Taliban. The workers, employed by a private construction company to build barracks for the Afghan army, were captured Sunday as they were travelling in three buses through the western province of Farah to Herat city.

“The Taliban are still holding them,” Farah deputy governor Mohammad Younis Rasouli told AFP.

“According to our information, the Taliban have divided them into small groups, sending each group to different areas to avoid possible operations,” Rasouli said, adding it appeared the kidnappers could try to seek ransom.

“Our efforts to secure their release continue through tribal elders.”

Kabul, Wednesday, AFP