Taliban Truck Bomb Kills 20 at Afghan Intelligence Building

A major Taliban truck bomb was detonated in Qalat, in the Zabul Province on Thursday, killing at least 20 people and wounding 95 others. The attack targeted the Afghan intelligence agency, the NDS, at a local building.

The Afghan Defense Ministry issued a statement saying that it was a single, massive bomb loaded onto a mini-truck. Other officials say the casualties will continue to rise as more are recovered from the rubble.

The provincial governor also issued a statement claiming that the Taliban bomb had totally destroyed a hospital. This is as yet unconfirmed, but the hospital was not the target of the attack, and only nearby.

Taliban attacks against NDS targets are common across Afghanistan. The intelligence agency is huge and heavily funded by the US, but with security in any city in Afghanistan always hit-or-miss, they remain high value targets that can be hit with relative ease.