Taliban blamed for 1,500 civilian casualties

KABUL-led International Security Assistance Forces said recent attacks by insurgents continued to illustrate their complete disregard for civilians, saying insurgents had killed or wounded  over 1,500 Afghan civilians since January 1.

In a statement, the force said insurgents killed themselves and six innocent Afghan civilians during Friday’s prayers in southern Ghazni province.

Later it appeared the explosives the Taliban said insurgents conducted a significant attack in Kabul, but were unable to cause the intended casualties.

Following the initial vehicle IED explosion, Kabul City Police and Police Special Operations Forces quickly cordoned the area, evacuated the wounded and other innocent civilians, and isolated the remaining insurgents in a building.  Several suicide bombers were subsequently killed by ANSF before they could do further damage.
“The ANSF demonstrated exceptional professionalism and competence in response to the recent attack in Kabul.  They clearly prevented the enemies from achieving their objective of inflicting mass casualties,” said Gen. Joseph F. Dunford, the ISAF commander.
“On the other hand, these attacks highlight the poor training and incompetence of the insurgents.  Not only are they continuing to deliberately kill innocent Afghans every day, they’re blowing themselves up, too,” Dunford said.
Pr/ma

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