8 killed, more than 400 wounded in blast in Afghanistan

Policemen keep watch at the site of a bomb attack in Kabul, Afghanistan.

In the evening hours, a suicide bomber dressed in a police uniform struck outside the gates of a police academy in Kabul, killing at least 20 recruits and wounding 24, Afghan officials said.

The bomb, which had been hidden inside a truck, was detonated in Shah Shahid area in western Kabul at 1 am (2030 GMT), Abdul Rahman Rahimi, the Kabul police chief, told dpa at the scene of the incident.

Dozens were wounded by debris and glass shattering in the heavily populated area and cars parked at least a hundred meters were damaged by the blast, a Reuters witness said.

The Taliban also announced his deputies – Sirajuddin Haqqani, who leads the Taliban-allied Haqqani network and has a $10 million US bounty on his head, and Haibatullah Akhundzada, former head of the Taliban courts.

The explosions, which devastated buildings and overwhelmed hospitals with casualties, mark the deadliest day in Kabul since the end of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation combat mission in December.

The Taliban were responsible for around 70 percent of civilian deaths and injuries in the first six months of 2015, the United Nations said, largely through their continued use of suicide attacks and improvised explosive devices.

According to Afghan intelligence, Omar died more than two years ago in a hospital in Karachi, Pakistan.

Zabihullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the Taliban – who were toppled from power in the 2001 US invasion of Afghanistan – told AFP the insurgent group was behind the attack.

“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.

On Thursday, a truck bomb targeting an Afghan special forces base exploded, killing at least 3 soldiers and 12 injured.

The attacks highlight growing insecurity amid a faltering peace process with the Taliban as Afghan forces face their first summer fighting season without full North Atlantic Treaty Organisation support.

The Taliban statement, posted on their website, said the helicopter was “shot down with a rocket launcher”.

The minister said that Pakistan also do not want to involve in controversy of Taliban leadership. However, in the abovementioned audio message, Mullah Mansoor rejected the talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban. There is no one to talk to right now. Asif said that peace in Afghanistan is necessary to set peace in the region.