Suicide Attacks in Kabul; 35 Dead and 100 Injured

Two suicide attacks near the Ministry of Defense of Afghanistan on Monday, September 15, left at least 35 dead and over 100 injured. Following a third attack on an international charity center in Kabul, Afghan security forces managed to eliminate the armed attackers after an 11-hour standoff. According to hospital sources cited by AFP, the death toll from Monday's explosions has reached 41. These attacks occurred in front of the Afghan Ministry of Defense building, and according to Mohammad Radmanesh, the ministry's spokesperson, a general and four senior security officials were among the dead. According to the Associated Press, Zabihullah Mujahid, a spokesperson for the Taliban, announced that these attacks were carried out by the Taliban. The first explosion occurred near the Ministry of Defense, and the second explosion happened minutes later while several officials and civilians rushed to assist the victims. Hours after these two explosions, during another attack on the international charity center in Kabul, a suicide bomber detonated a car bomb, and three other attackers entered the charity institution. Afghan security forces killed all three attackers after an 11-hour confrontation. According to AFP, none of the charity center's staff were harmed, but it remains unclear what the motive for the attack on this charity was. Amnesty International on Tuesday, September 16, issued a statement deeming the attack on the charity center in Kabul as a 'war crime' that deliberately targeted civilians. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani condemned the attacks in a statement on Tuesday, saying, 'The enemies of Afghanistan have lost their ability to fight the security and defense forces of this country, and for this reason, they attack mosques, schools, highways, and ordinary people.' These attacks come two weeks after an armed assault on an American university in Kabul, which resulted in 13 deaths. Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, has witnessed several deadly attacks in recent months, some of which were carried out by the Islamic State (ISIS). In one of the deadliest attacks, which occurred on July 23 by ISIS during a Hazara march in Kabul, at least 80 people were killed and 230 others were injured. The UN mission in Kabul announced earlier in August that civilian casualties in Afghanistan have increased unprecedentedly in the first half of this year. According to this report, in the first eight months of this year, 1,600 civilians have been killed and over 3,500 others injured in Afghanistan. The UN mission in Kabul stated that about one-third of these casualties were children.