Nepalese among 7 killed in Kabul suicide attack

KABUL): A group of suicide bombers stormed a private logistics firm’s office in Kabul killed seven people, including four Nepalese security guards on Tuesday morning, police said.

At least two civilians were among those killed in the truck bombing, followed by gunfire, the latest in a series of brazen insurgent strikes in the high-security capital, the Kabul police headquarters said.

Barely a week ago, Afghan security forces killed four militants during a fierce clash after a botched assault near the Presidential Palace. At least security guards were also killed in the gun and bomb attack.

Tuesday’s attack targetted a base of the company that provides logistics services to NATO-led troops, one police official told Pajhwok Afghan News. The office is located in the Dispatchery area of the 9th police district.

One of the bombers blew himself up at the entrance to the heavily-fortified building and the rest trading intense gunfire with security guards, the Kabul police chief told reporters at the scene.

Brig. Gen. Ayub Salangi, without giving a specific number, said all the attackers were killed as a result of a 30-minute clash. Five workers of the firm, four Nepalese and one Afghan, and two drivers were among the fatalities, he added.

Ministry of Interior spokesman Siddique Siddiqui told Pajhwok Afghan News one of the three assailants detonated an explosives-packed truck and the two clashed with the security guards for an hour.

Five civilians suffered injuries in the incident on the eastern outskirts of Kabul, he said, adding the area was currently under control. A Pajhwok reporter at the site saw columns of smoke rising from the building.

The Taliban, meanwhile, claimed responsibility for the suicide attack, with the group’s spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid saying a large number of NATO and Afghan troops were killed.

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