Afghanistan interior ministry spokesman Nasrat Rahimi, said at least seven people were killed and ten wounded, including four foreigners, when a minivan packed with explosives detonated during Kabul's morning rush hour Wednesday, the bomb — targeting an SUV belonging to a private Canadian security company, GardaWorld— had gone off in a neighbourhood which is near the interior ministry and north of Kabul airport.
He did not confirm the nationalities of the foreigners involved.
Interior Minister Massoud Andarabi said that one of those killed was a 13-year-old child heading to school.
"The enemies of our people should know that our people are determined for peace, nothing can stop them from achieving peace," he said.
The attack which as per a source at the interior ministry was detonated by a suicide bomber comes a day after Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani announced that Kabul would release three high-ranking Taliban prisoners in an apparent prisoner swap with Western hostages who were kidnapped by the insurgents in 2016.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility, however. Both the Taliban and the Islamic State group are active in the city, which is one of the deadliest places in the war-torn country for civilians.
Last month, the United Nations released a report saying 1,174 deaths and 3,139 injured have been reported from July 1 until September 30. The figure represents a 42 per cent increase over the same period last year.
The three Taliban prisoners President Ghani plan to release include Anas Haqqani, who was seized in 2014 and whose older brother is the deputy Taliban leader and head of the Haqqani network, a notorious Taliban affiliate. Ghani, while making the announcement yesterday, said the health of the Western captives “has been deteriorating while in the custody of the terrorists.”
It was, however, not clear when the Australian and American professors at the American University in Kabul would be freed. He also did not state when or where the Taliban prisoners would be freed.
The Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said on Wednesday that he could not confirm anything about the swap yet.
President Donald Trump abruptly ended negotiations with the Taliban in September, citing continued Taliban violence. Ghani said that he hoped the decision would help restart unofficial direct talks between his government and the Taliban. So far, the Taliban have refused direct negotiations with the Afghanistan government, whom it calls a puppet of the US.
Most experts agree that there is no military solution in Afghanistan and that talks will have to restart again eventually.
Civilians, in the meantime, continue to pay a disproportionate price in the long-running and brutal war.
