Rocket attack blamed on Taliban wounded at least sixteen children in Afghanistan’s Kunar province
A rocket has hit the provincial governor’s compound in Afghanistan’s eastern Kunar province during a religious ceremony, wounding at least 16 children, local officials said, blaming Taliban insurgents.
Iqbal Sayeed, the governor of Kunar, said a Taliban rocket hit the compound’s hall as a holy Koran recitation competition was taking place.
At least 16 children, three Afghan security force members, and religious affairs officials were wounded, Sayeed said, and some children are in critical condition.
The Taliban, fighting to overthrow the foreign-backed Afghan government since they were toppled by US-led troops in late 2001, said they were aware of the incident and investigating.
The Afghan government says since the announcement by US President Joe Biden this month of plans to withdraw American combat troops from Afghanistan by September 11, the Taliban have stepped up attacks on Afghan security forces.
More than a hundred Afghan civilians and security forces have been killed in fighting in the last 10 days and many more wounded, according to government officials.
A roadside bomb hit an army vehicle in the eastern city of Jalalabad on Monday, wounding six people.
At least 12 Afghan policemen have been killed, including seven who were ambushed by the Taliban south of the capital, officials said, as fighting continued in the violence-wracked country.
The two separate attacks in the provinces of Logar and Kandahar came as the top US military commander in Afghanistan, General Scott Miller, said work had begun to withdraw the remaining American forces.
The policemen were part of a security force guarding copper mines in Logar, south of the capital Kabul.
Police from Logar province confirmed the attack.
In a separate attack on Sunday, a suicide bomber ran an explosives-laden car into a police vehicle in the southern Taliban bastion of Kandahar, killing five policemen.
The attack took place in the restive Maiwand district of Kandahar and left another four policemen wounded, police said.
Fighting continues unabated across several rural provinces.
Source: TRT World
