Taliban Kill at Least 126 Afghan Police in Attack Near Kabul

Suicide car bomber, gunmen killed huge numbers at training site

In one of the deadliest attacks in recent memory in Afghanistan, the Taliban has attacked a police training campus in Wardak Province, just southwest of the capital city of Kabul. Officials have confirmed at least 126 killed, mostly police but also including eight commandos.

The attack began with a US Humvee full of explosives, as a bomber smashed the Humvee into the facility by ramming through a checkpoint, and then detonated inside the campus, causing a large number of casualties.

This was just the start of the attack, as at least two gunmen stormed in after the explosion and shot as many people as possible before finally getting killed themselves. The Pentagon has so far not commented on the attack.

But the attack is the latest in an ever-growing series of Taliban strikes, with the group keen to show that it is not only capable of attacking soft targets, but is willing and able to inflict mass casualties on security forces.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.