Hundreds gather in Kabul to remember victims of attacks

A wave of attacks on the Afghan army and police and U.S. special forces in Kabul have killed at least 50 people and wounded hundreds, dimming hopes that the Taliban might be weakened by a leadership struggle after their longtime leader’s death.

The Interior Ministry said 10 security guards were injured and three insurgents were killed by Afghan security forces as they tried to enter the case. In a new report on Wednesday, the UN said civilian casualties were higher than at any point during the war in Afghanistan.

Earlier Friday, a truck bomb in a residential area of Kabul killed 15 people and wounded more than 200, in one of the most devastating attacks on the capital since the insurgency began in 2001.

Mullah Mohammad Akhtar Mansour, the new Taliban leader, may be trying to prove something to those in the organization who don’t support him.

On Saturday evening, hundreds of Kabul residents held a candlelight vigil to mourn the victims of Friday’s attacks at the site of the blast caused by the truck bomb.

The NATO-led mission in Afghanistan said on Saturday that eight civilian contractors were killed along with one of its service members in the attack.

The Taliban has claimed responsibility for the attack on the police academy and Camp Integrity. The bomb exploded near an army compound, killing at least 15 people and wounding another 248, police and government officials said.

A spokesman for President Barack Obama said the US condemned the attack “in the strongest terms”.

Attacks have been on the rise in Afghanistan since the bulk of US and allied foreign troops pulled out of the country at the beginning of 2014.

An attacker dressed in a police uniform walked up to a group of recruits and detonated his explosives-laden vest, claiming at least 20 lives and injuring 25 others. The insurgents, however, have sought to dismiss talk of any rift after the Afghan government and the Taliban revealed last week that Mullah Omar had been dead for more than two years.

Americans are waiting for the Department of Defense to release the name of the U.S.soldier who was killed in Kabul’s violence yesterday.

“And when I see the crowd of people I think maybe a suicide attack will take place with a car bomb or on a motorbike”.

The blast was an unusually powerful one in a city often targeted by the Taliban and other militants seeking to destabilise the troubled unity government led by Ghani.

The Taliban face growing internal divisions afterMansour was announced as the new head of the movement on Friday, following their confirmation of the death of Mullah Omar.

“We are in a very delicate stage in the peace process”.

Pakistan, which hosted the first round of landmark Afghan-Taliban peace talks last month, denied that Omar had died in Karachi.