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Afghan spy agency HQ targeted

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KABUL: Twelve people, including civilians and Afghan security forces, have been killed in separate attacks in Kabul and the southern Afghan province of Helmand.


A teenage IS suicide bomber killed six people after he blew himself up close to a security checkpoint near the entrance of a compound belonging of the Afghan spy agency in Kabul on Monday, Nasrat Rahimi, a spokesman for the Afghan Interior Ministry said.


Two Afghan security personnel were among those killed. Five people, including two security personnel, were injured, Rahimi said.


One of the two security personnel who died ran towards the bomber after identifying him as dangerous, Rahimi said. The suicide bomber detonated his explosives before reaching the spy agency facility closeby, he added.


IS claimed responsibility for the attack through its mouthpiece, Amaq news agency.


“A suicide attack targeted an Afghan intelligence headquarters in Shash Darak in the city of Kabul,” the terrorist group said in a statement.


The group said that the suicide bomber had managed to reach the main gate of the compound and that more than 30 people were killed.


The targeted centre was “infamous for torturing the mujahedeen” of IS, the statement added.


The area lies at the outer edge of the so-called green zone, Kabul’s diplomatic quarter, with the US Embassy and Nato headquarters among the other nearby compounds.


In a second attack, six Afghan border policemen were killed when their armoured vehicle hit a roadside bomb in Helmand, one of Afghanistan’s most violent provinces.


Six others were wounded in the incident, which took place in the Marjah district of southern Helmand on Sunday night, Omar Zwak, a spokesman for the governor of Helmand, said.


No group claimed responsibility for the incident, but Taliban militants lay thousands of such bombs to target Afghan security forces and stop troop movements.


Ninety per cent of Helmand is either fully controlled or heavily contested by Taliban militants, and the province is also the largest producer of opium poppy, a source of funding for the militants.


Kabul has been the site of more than 20 large attacks this year in which hundreds of people were killed and injured. — dpa


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