More than 100 people were injured in yesterday’s bombing on the compound, where many international organisations and charities are based The Taliban has claimed responsibility for yesterday’s car bomb in Kabul, which killed at least four people and injured more than 100. Zabiullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the Taliban, told reporters on Whatsapp that militants had blown up a truck near the Green Village compound, where many international organisations and charities are located. “Five attackers, including the suicide bomber driving an explosives-laden vehicle, were involved in the attack,” he said. Sponsored He added that the militants intended to carry out further attacks in the city in response to the recent appointment of Amrullah Saleh, an anti-Taliban campaigner, as interior minister. The health ministry said that four people had been confirmed dead and 113 had been injured. Najib Danish, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry, said that<doc-sep>The Taliban has claimed responsibility for a “complex martyrdom operation” late yesterday in Kabul. The attack was carried out by a suicide bomber driving a truck packed with explosives and four others. It is not clear how many people were killed or wounded. According to RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty (RFE/RL), Afghan officials claim the facility was mostly abandoned at the time of “martyrdom” operation. The Taliban tells a different story. In a statement attributed to its spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban claimed that “[d]ozens of invaders and hirelings” were killed in the assault, which targeted “a key intelligence site” for “foreigners” in Kabul’s Green Village. (Taliban social media accounts posted the Google Maps image of the “Green Village” seen above.) After a suicide bomber, identified as “Motasim Logari,” detonated his explosive-laden truck bomb, four other jihadists “armed with light and heavy weapons entered” the facility, according to Mujahid’s statement. The four “heavily-armed” members in this team of “martyrdom seekers” are identified as: “Talha Paktiawal, Hamdullah Zabuli, Akram Kunari and Zubair Logari.” They clashed with security personnel for “several hours.” The Taliban is sensitive to claims that its operations kill or wound Afghan civilians. So the Taliban argues in its claim of responsibility that “Green Village” is an “area where the movement of civilians is strictly prohibited.” Still, the group was forced to concede that “some people living far away from the area were harmed due to shattered glass from the powerful explosion,” even though “they were not target of the attack itself.” The Taliban adds one of its familiar warnings, which are intended to justify civilian casualties during its operations. “This attack came as the Mujahideen of Islamic Emirate had prior warned the residents of Kabul to stay away from the living quarters, offices, military bases and centers of foreign forces as well as the military centers of the Kabul administration,” the statement attributed to Mujahid reads. Afghan officials say that at least four people were killed and 90 more wounded, according to RFE/RL. Officials in Afghanistan’s Interior Ministry said that foreign workers have stayed in the building, but UN staffers had recently relocated away from the site. In addition, the Afghan officials said that 23 children “are among the injured.” Thomas Joscelyn is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Senior Editor for FDD's Long War Journal. Are you a dedicated reader of FDD's Long War Journal? Has our research benefitted you or your team over the years? Support our independent reporting and analysis today by considering a one-time or monthly donation. Thanks for reading! You can make a tax-deductible donation here.<doc-sep>Today’s Headlines The most important news stories of the day, curated by Post editors and delivered every morning. By signing up you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy<doc-sep>
KABUL -- At least four people were killed and more than 90 were wounded when a car bomb exploded near a foreign compound in the east of Afghanistan's capital, Kabul, on January 14, officials said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, but Interior Ministry spokesman Najib Danish said the blast had targeted Green Village, where some foreign NGOs and workers used to be based. Twenty-three children are among the injured, the ministry's deputy spokesman, Nasrat Rahimi, said. Until recently, some UN staff lived and worked at the compound, but Danish said the area was now largely empty and "only a number of guards" were left. "Residential buildings nearby have sustained heavy damage," he said. "Special police force units have been deployed to the site to check if there are more attackers." The latest attack comes as U.S. peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad is touring the region for meetings aimed at bringing an end to the 17-year war in Afghanistan. Khalilzad, who met Taliban representatives last month in Abu Dhabi, is traveling to Afghanistan as well as China, India, and Pakistan on a trip lasting through January 21. Last month's leaking of U.S. President Donald Trump's plan to reduce troop numbers in Afghanistan, however, has threatened to derail peace efforts and alarmed many Afghans. The Taliban controls or contests nearly half of Afghanistan, where it is waging a deadly insurgency against the Western-backed Kabul government and government security forces. Last week, Taliban leaders called off a fourth round of talks with U.S. officials in the Arab Gulf state of Qatar due to an "agenda disagreement" and refused to allow what they called "puppet" Afghan government officials to join the talks. With reporting by AFP, Reuters, and AP