36 dead, hundreds wounded in series of bomb blasts in Kabul

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing that killed dozens of cadets at the police academy but no claim was made for the other attacks.

At least 26 people were killed and 28 more wounded at the police academy, according to an Afghan police official who spoke on condition of anonymity. According to Afghan intelligence, Mr. Omar died more than two years ago in a hospital in Karachi, Pakistan.

Tribus also said one worldwide service member was killed in the attack.

“A coalition facility [Camp Integrity] was attacked at 10.15pm, 7 August”.

“Anti-government elements launched a complex attack against Camp Integrity, initiated with a vehicle-borne bomb and followed by small arms fire and further explosions”, one Western security source said. The individual is the fifth worldwide service member killed in Afghanistan this year.

Shortly after the explosions, military jets were heard flying over the centre of Kabul. Police said the blast killed at least 22 members of a pro-government militia.

United Nations mission chief Nicholas Haysom bluntly blamed the attackers for civilian casualties.

Some 240 others were wounded in the blast which was one of the largest ever in Kabul, flattening a city block and leaving a 30ft crater.

While the truck bomb exploded outside a Ministry of Defence base, the exact objective remains unclear, and the timing of the attack was unusual.

Police said the attack was to the north of the airport, close to a residential area and several NATO and Afghan military bases.

The radical Islamist insurgents claimed responsibility forboth the police academy attack and the battle at the U.S.special forces base, though not for the truck bomb.

A UN report published Wednesday said civilian casualties in Afghanistan hit a record high in the first half of 2015.

Underlying these numbers is a change in tactics by the insurgents.

The death toll in the three attacks topped 50, making it the single bloodiest day for the Afghan capital in recent years, local and foreign officials told The Wall Street Journal.

The Taliban, who have been toppled from energy by the D.J.-led army intervention in 2001, not often admit to assaults that kill a excessive variety of civilians. More than 280 people – including at least 30 children – were wounded in total.

The scale of the violence heightened obstacles to revivingthe stalled peace process and conveyed a no-compromise messagefrom the Taliban at a delicate time following last week’srevelation of Mullah Mohammad Omar’s death.

What makes this very worrisome is that the Taliban may fight their internal battles by trying to outdo one another in civilian body counts. Though the Taliban released a video showing some leaders pledging allegiance to the newly-appointed leader, Mullah Akhtar Mansour, there has been growing speculation about differences between senior leaders about Mansour’s appointment.

Waziri added that 97 percent of would-be attacks by the insurgents are thwarted by Afghan government forces before they can take place.