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KABUL: At least 30 Afghan security forces were killed after a suicide car bomber struck an army base in Afghanistan’s central province on Sunday, officials said casualties could increase given the intensity and location of the blast.
Director of the provincial hospital in Ghazni Baz Mohammad Hemat said 30 bodies and 24 injured people had been brought there. “All of the victims are security personnel,” he added.
According to local officials, the blast targeted a compound of the public protection force, a wing of the Afghan security forces. It damaged civilian residences around the compound, and there could be more casualties from there, they said.
Interior ministry spokesman Tariq Arian confirmed that there had been a car bomb blast but did not provide further information on the target or possible casualties. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid, when contacted by Reuters, did not confirm or deny responsibility.
On November 24, 14 people were killed and 45 others injured after two planted bombs exploded in the central Afghan province of Bamiyan.
While talking to the media, the police chief of the province, Zabardast Safai said the two bombs, hidden at the side of a road in the main bazaar in Bamiyan city, killed 12 civilians and two traffic policemen. The police officials further said 45 people mostly from a nearby restaurant and shops sustained severe injuries.
Tariq Arian, spokesperson for the Interior Ministry also said 45 people were also wounded in a late afternoon blast in Bamiyan city in Bamiyan province. Several shops and vehicles were destroyed or damaged.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack and Zabihullah Mujahid, Taliban spokesman, said the group was not involved.
Violence and chaos have increased in Afghanistan in recent months even as government negotiators and the Taliban are meeting in Qatar to find an end to decades of relentless war. The two sides have made little progress.
Afghanistan has seen decades of violent conflict that has left tens of thousands of civilians dead. US forces have been in the country since 2001 in an operation to oust the Taliban after the deadly 9/11 attacks in New York.
The Taliban was removed from power but later regrouped and now controls more territory than at any time since the start of America’s longest war.
In February the US started withdrawing its troops after signing a landmark agreement with the insurgents. But violence in the country has risen again as the Taliban steps up its offensives amid stalled negotiations with the Afghan government.