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Suicide car bomb causes multiple casualties in Afghanistan Suicide car bomb causes multiple fatalities in Afghanistan
(about 1 hour later)
At least 15 people have been killed in suicide car bombing in the capital of Helmand province in Afghanistan. At least 30 people have been killed in Afghanistan’s Helmand province after a car bomb targeted soldiers, government employees and other civilians queueing to collect pay cheques from a bank in the provincial capital.
A powerful explosion struck a bank in Lashkar Gah city while civilian and military government employees were queueing to withdraw their salaries, officials said on Thursday. The blast, outside New Kabul Bank in Lashkar Gah, is the latest in a series of brazen attacks in Afghanistan during the holy month of Ramadan.
At least 50 wounded people were taken to hospital, Omar Zwak, a government spokesman, told Agence France-Presse (AFP), and other officials said the death toll would rise. No group immediately claimed responsibility, but the Taliban have been responsible for similar attacks against the bank, where most government employees have their salaries deposited.
No group has claimed responsibility for the latest in a series of brazen attacks during the holy month of Ramadan, but it came as the Taliban intensify their annual spring offensive. The insurgents control swaths of Helmand. Emergency hospital, Lashkar Gah’s main trauma centre, received 23 killed and had admitted 43 injured patients. Several windows shattered at the hospital, which is close to the bank, but staff were unharmed, said Dejan Panic, a programme coordinator.
“Around 12 noon a car bomb exploded at the entrance of New Kabul Bank,” Salam Afghan, a police spokesman in the city, told AFP. “It happened at a time when civilians and officials had lined up outside the bank to collect their salaries.” Omar Zawak, spokesman for the Helmand governor, said 30 people were killed and more than 60 injured, many critically. He said most fatalities were soldiers.
Washington is expected to announce an increase in the US military presence to bolster Afghan forces, who are struggling to contain the Taliban insurgency. US military commanders in Afghanistan have requested thousands of extra troops. It is the third time in three years that militants have targeted crowds collecting salaries at the bank. In 2014, a suicide bomber and a gunman killed 10 people, and in February this year, seven were killed in a suicide bombing. The Taliban claimed responsibility for both attacks.
There are about 8,400 US soldiers in Afghanistan, and another 5,000 from Nato allies, a far cry from the US presence of more than 100,000 six years ago. They mainly serve as trainers and advisers. Due to the spate of bombings, Rahmatullah, a border police officer, said he had kept his distance from the queue as he waited to get inside.
The Afghan conflict is the longest in US history, with forces at war since the Taliban regime was ousted in 2001. “I was waiting in front of the bank to take my salary, but I was worried about an explosion so I didn’t join the crowd. And then suddenly the blast happened,” said Rahmatullah, who sustained a leg injury in the blast. “I saw lot of injured and dead people.”
Agence France-Presse and the Associated Press contributed to this report Helmand has long been a Taliban stronghold. Lashkar Gah is one of the only populated areas in the province under government control.
In April, US Marines returned to Helmand for the first time since 2014, deploying 300 personnel to a province that claimed the lives of more foreign and Afghan soldiers than anywhere else in the country.
The Trump administration said it would add about 4,000 troops to the 8,400 American soldiers serving in Afghanistan. Nato allies such as Australia and Denmark have also pledged more troops.
Most analysts doubt the Taliban can be defeated militarily, particularly as that proved impossible with 150,000 foreign troops at the height of Barack Obama’s “surge”.
The US defence secretary has said that while the country is not winning the war in Afghanistan, “we will correct this as soon as possible”. In response to criticism from senators, James Mattis said he would provide details for a new strategy in mid-July.
Additional reporting by Aliyas Dayee in Lashkar Gah.