GHAZNI, Afghanistan—Terrorists detonated a car bomb on Monday near an Afghan intelligence agency installation in the central province of Ghazni, killing at least nine people and wounding 40, officials and Taliban insurgents said.
Eight of the wounded were in critical condition and were transferred to the capital, Kabul, for further treatment, according to Arif Noori, a spokesman for the provincial governor said.
According to Noori, the bomber used a stolen military Humvee full of explosives, detonating it as he approached the main entrance gate to the base. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the terrorists were behind the attack in Ghazni province, where the Taliban control most of the countryside and the rural areas.
“Around 4:30 a.m., a base of the National Security (NDS) forces in Ghazni was targeted by a car bomb,” said a police official, adding that seven people died at the blast site and 40 injured were taken to a military hospital.
The provincial capital, also called Ghazni, briefly fell to Taliban control twice in recent years. The province has in the past been the scene of many large-scale attacks against both Afghan and NATO forces.
The attack came a day after Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and his political rival, Abdullah Abdullah, signed a power-sharing agreement, two months after both declared themselves the winner of last September’s presidential election.
The political deal would see Ghani remain president of the war-torn nation while Abdullah would lead the country’s National Reconciliation High Council.
Ghani and Abdullah held parallel inauguration ceremonies in March. They have been locked in a power struggle since the vote. The discord prompted the Trump administration to announce it would cut $1 billion in assistance to Afghanistan if the two Afghan leaders did not work out their differences.
The blast, during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan when tens of thousands of Afghans are fasting, is the latest in a spate of violence across the country despite a peace accord signed between the United States and Taliban in February.
The interior ministry in Kabul and provincial officials in Ghazni confirmed the attack.
Last week five civilians were killed and 40 people, including six soldiers, were wounded in a Taliban truck bomb blast targeting an army office in the neighboring province of Paktia.
Terrorist Attack on Funeral
Last Tuesday, May 12, a suicide bomber in eastern Afghanistan killed 32 people and wounded 133 following an attack on the funeral of a police commander attended by government officials and a member of parliament, officials said.
The attack was claimed by the ISIS terrorist group, who are known to operate in the province.
Gunmen Terrorize Afghan Capital
Several bloody attacks in the capital in recent months have been claimed by ISIS.
On May 4, security forces said they had arrested three senior ISIS members including a regional leader.
The week before that, security forces killed and arrested several members of an ISIS cell that authorities said was responsible for several attacks in Kabul including one on a Sikh temple in March.
By Mustafa Andalib
The Associated Press, Reuters and NTD staff contributed to this report.
