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MORE than 30 people were hurt when Taliban militants attacked the Afghan parliament yesterday, sending MPs running for cover.
Pandemonium and screams from inside parliament were relayed live on television when the first explosion struck, with Speaker Abdul Rauf Rahimi sitting in his chair calmly telling MPs “it’s an electrical issue”.
The attack ended two hours later when all seven attackers, including a suicide car-bomber, were dead, and 31 people, including two women and two children, were wounded.
The assault on such a high-profile target in downtown Kabul raises fresh questions about security as Afghan forces battle a resurgent Taliban for the first time without the aid of Nato forces, who ended their combat mission in December.
“First a car-bomb detonated on the main road near the parliament building, then a group of attackers entered a building in front of parliament,” Kabul police spokesman Ebadullah Karimi said.
Gunmen then tried to storm the compound but were pushed back by security forces and corralled into a nearby building that was under construction.
MP Mohammad Reza Khoshak, who was in the chamber at the time, described hearing “a loud explosion, followed by several other smaller explosions.
“In a few seconds, the hall was filled with smoke and MPs began fleeing the building,” he said.
Hundreds of children were evacuated from a school down the street, with parents racing towards the building, shouting the names of their children.
The attack on parliament came hours after the Taliban seized a second district in the northern Kunduz province, which has borne the brunt of their annual warm-weather offensive. The Taliban launched a countrywide offensive in late April, stepping up attacks on government and foreign targets in what is expected to be the bloodiest fighting season in a decade.
The militants recently rebuffed requests from senior Afghan clerics to halt attacks during the fasting month of Ramadan even as a surge in violence has sent civilian casualties soaring.
A group of suicide attackers last tried to storm parliament in 2012 as the Taliban launched co-ordinated attacks in several parts of the capital.
The Taliban, toppled from power in the 2001 US invasion of Afghanistan, swiftly claimed responsibility for yesterday’s attack.
“Several mujaheddin have entered the parliament building,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid posted on Twitter.
Police denied that Taliban fighters had breached the high-security complex.
The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan condemned the raid, saying it was a “clear and deliberate affront to democracy in Afghanistan”.
The recent rise in insurgent attacks has taken a heavy toll on Afghans, according to the UN mission in Afghanistan.
Almost 1,000 civilians were killed during the first four months of this year, a sharp jump from the same period last year.
Afghan authorities have repeatedly tried to jumpstart talks with the Taliban in the hope of ending the 13-year conflict, but the militants have set tough conditions, including the withdrawal of all foreign troops in Afghanistan.
NATO’s combat mission formally ended in December but a small follow-up foreign force of about 12,500 mainly US troops has stayed on to train and support local security personnel.
President Ashraf Ghani’s government has drawn criticism for failing to end growing insurgent attacks, which critics partly blame on political infighting and a lengthy delay in appointing a defence minister.
Ghani last month nominated Mohammad Masoom Stanekzai, a top government official overseeing the country’s peace process, for the job.
The post had been left vacant for months because of disagreements between Ghani and his chief executive and former presidential election rival Abdullah Abdullah, but Stanekzai is expected to be confirmed by Afghanistan’s parliament soon. — AFP
Online Reporter