At least 28 killed in attack on Afghan govt building

At least 28 people died, including 25 employees of the Vice Ministry for Martyrs and the Disabled, and another 20 were wounded on Monday in an attack on that government department in Kabul.

Three attackers were also killed in a seven-hour battle with security forces, Efe reported.

"The cleanup operation in the area ended after almost seven hours ... For the moment, there are 25 people dead and more than 20 wounded in the attack," said Interior Ministry spokesman Nasrat Rahimi, who also confirmed the deaths of the attackers.

A suicide bomber detonated a car bomb at the entrance of the building, the department being a part of the Labor and Social Affairs Ministry, about 3:15 pm, thus clearing the way for two other armed terrorists to get inside the facility.

During the assault, security forces evacuated 350 government employees and are now looking for more dead and wounded in each of the building's rooms, said Rahimi, adding that the casualty toll could rise in the coming hours.

"Now, ambulances have been allowed to access the zone to (remove) the bodies and (evacuate) the wounded to hospitals," he said.

So far, no group has taken responsibility for the attack.

In 2018, Kabul has been the scene of many such attacks, the latest of them coming in late November when Taliban attackers killed 15 people and wounded about 30 in a 10-hour battle with security forces after assaulting a facility of Britain's G4S security firm.

The most serious attack this year came last January, when the Taliban blew up an ambulance bomb near the old Interior Ministry, which still houses government offices, killing more than 100.

--IANS

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