5 Killed, 10 Injured, in Kabul Bus Bombing, 2,300 Afghan Casualties in One Month, June 5, 2019

5 Killed, 10 Injured, in Kabul Bus Bombing, 2,300 Afghan Casualties in One Month

June 5, 2019


Deadly Bus Blast Rattles Afghan Capital on Eve of Eid, June 4, 2019	Site of a car bomb explosion in Kabul, Afghanistan, on May 31, 2019

Deadly Bus Blast Rattles Afghan Capital on Eve of Eid

Voice of America 04 Jun 2019, 00:36 GMT+10

ISLAMABAD -

Officials in Afghanistan say a powerful bomb ripped through a minibus carrying government employees in Kabul Monday, killing at least five people and injuring 10 others.

The deadly attack in the capital occurred on the eve of annual Eid al-Fitr festivities that marks the end of the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan.

The violence comes as the U.S. special representative for Afghanistan reconciliation, Zalmay Khalilzad, visits the region. He is scheduled to hold a fresh round of peace talks with Qatar-based envoys of the Taliban insurgency in a bid to end Afghanistan's 17-year- war.

An Interior Ministry spokesman, Nasrat Rahimi, said a magnetic improvised explosive device was used in the attack Monday and victims were mostly staff members at the Afghan Independent Administrative Reform and Civil Service Commission.

There were no immediate claims of responsibility.

The attack came a day after three separate bomb blasts in Kabul killed at least two people and injured 24 others. The Islamic State terrorist group claimed responsibility for those attacks, saying they caused 33 casualties among Afghan Shi'ites, journalists and security forces.

Monday's violence came shortly after the United Nations called on Taliban insurgents and U.S.-backed Afghan security forces to cease hostilities to allow Afghans to commemorate the Eid celebration.

"I strongly urge all parties to the conflict to stop violence and to respect this time of reflection and tolerance so that everybody in Afghanistan can enjoy Eid peacefully," said Tadamichi Yamamoto, who heads the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA).

The Taliban and the Afghan government had both observed their own cease-fires during last year's Eid festivities. It is not clear, however, whether the insurgent group would stop violence in response to cease-fire calls by Kabul and U.S. officials.

Afghan battlefield hostilities, as expected, have intensified during the summer fighting season. Local watchdog groups have documented more than 2,300 casualties in May, including 1,317 deaths. The victims included combatants and Afghan civilians.

The conflict-related violence has already killed around 500 combatants on both sides since the start of June, according to figures released by the Afghan Defense Ministry and the Taliban, although both often inflate battlefield claims.

https://www.afghanistannews.net/news/261287587/deadly-bus-blast-rattles-afghan-capital-on-eve-of-eid

Car Bomb Rocks Afghan Capital

Gandhara, RFE, May 31, 2019

Afghan police arrive at the site of a suicide car bomb in Kabul on May 31. Share
A fatal car-bomb blast has struck the Afghan capital, Kabul, the second deadly explosion in the city in two days.

At least seven people were reported killed or injured in the May 31 explosion in the Yakatot area of eastern Kabul.

The bomb exploded as a U.S. military convoy passed through the area.

A spokesman for the U.S. military said four U.S. service personnel were slightly injured in the incident.

Interior Ministry spokesman Nasrat Rahimi was quoted by AFP as saying four Afghan passersby had been killed and three were wounded.

Officials cautioned that the exact number of dead and wounded remains unknown.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the blast, claiming without evidence that 10 U.S. soldiers had been killed.

U.S. and NATO military forces, as well as the Afghan National Security Forces, maintain facilities in the area near the explosion.

On May 30, six people were killed when a suicide bomber struck near an Afghan Army academy a few kilometers away from the scene of the May 31 blast.

The Islamic State (IS) extremist organization claimed responsibility for the May 30 attack.
Based on reporting by AP, AFP, dpa, and Reuters

https://gandhara.rferl.org/a/car-bomb-rocks-afghan-capital/29974332.html

Afghanistan Violence Nearly 2,300 Casualties in May, 2019

Voice of America 03 Jun 2019, 00:06 GMT+10

ISLAMABAD -

The armed conflict in Afghanistan has reportedly caused more than 2,300 casualties, including 1,317 deaths, over the past month in operations conducted by pro-government forces and Taliban insurgents.

The private Afghan news agency, Pajhwok, released the casualty figures Sunday, crediting its own sources from across 30 out of 34 provinces of the war-shattered country.

It noted the casualties in May increased by an alarming 37 percent compared to the previous month. It said that victims included Afghan security forces, insurgents and civilians.

There is no let up in the violence as the Afghan Defense Ministry claimed to have killed nearly 200 Taliban fighters in the past 24 hours while the insurgent group also has made similar assertions of inflicting massive casualties on government forces.

A bomb explosion also struck a bus carrying students in the capital Kabul on Sunday, causing more than 22 casualties.

Separately, an Afghan watchdog reported Sunday that the violence killed nearly 190 civilians, including 33 children, and injured 340 others in May.

The Civilian Protection Advocacy Group (CPAG) said in its monthly report that the number of fatalities almost doubled in the past month, which was also the Muslim holy month of fasting.

The non-governmental organization said that most of the civilian casualties occurred in capital Kabul and the provinces of Nangarhar, Herat, Ghani and Helmand. It blamed landmines, suicide attacks, bomb blasts and incidents of targeted killings.

The second major cause for the civilian casualties during the previous month were airstrikes by pro-government forces, according to the CPAG. The watchdog urged the warring sides to protect civilian lives and seek a resolution to the Afghan conflict.

The United Nations has also warned the civilian casualty toll continues to rise and documented 1,773 civilian casualties, including 581 deaths, in the first three months of 2019.

The number of casualties has particularly been increasing since the Taliban unleashed its annual spring in mid-April, which leads to intensified battlefield and other violence in Afghanistan.

A U.S.-led initiative to seek a negotiated settlement to the war with the Taliban is currently underway but the insurgents have refused to cease fighting.

https://www.afghanistannews.net/news/261276362/afghan-violence-nearly-2300-casualties-in-may

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