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.
Taliban Truck Bomb Kills 20 at Afghan Intelligence Building
95 more wounded in massive attack in Zabul Province
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.
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