SAMANGAN: More than 40 people were injured during a clash between security forces and gunmen following a car-bomb blast at a government compound in Afghanistan’s northern province of Samangan on Monday.
According to reports, the attack took place at a government facility in Samangan’s capital. However, it was not immediately clear what the target of the attack was or who was behind it.
Mohammad Sediq Azizi, a spokesman for Samangan’s provincial government said, “It’s a complex attack that started with a car bomb. Clashes with the attackers are still going on.”
The province’s health director, Khalil Musadeq, said 43 civilians and members of the security forces had been wounded in the attack, with that number expected to rise and deaths expected.
The attack comes at a sensitive time as violence in Afghanistan ramps up even as the United States is trying to usher the government and the Taliban towards peace talks to end more than 18 years of war.
Earlier, two members of Afghanistan’s independent human rights commission were killed in a bomb blast in Kabul on June 27.
In a statement, the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) said that a 24-year-old donor coordinator Fatima Khalil and a 41-year-old driver Ahmad Jawed Fold were killed in an explosive device bomb attack.
The AIHRC said, “It is intolerable, assassinating human rights defenders is a war crime in the context of armed conflict.” adding that staff had previously been the target of attacks.
The United Nations and foreign powers, including the United Kingdom and Turkey, condemned Saturday’s attack.
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