A British security contractors’ compound was attacked in Kabul in Wednesday, 28th November. The attackers entered the premises and opened fire on the civilians after a car-bomb went off near the compound, wounding 19 and killing 10 people.
What Happened?
The attack came only hours after President Ashraf Ghani disclosed plans for stability and peace in Afghanistan. Following the attack the Afghan Taliban have claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement release.
“A number of gunmen entered the G4S compound right after the car bomb,” said Najib Danish, an interior ministry spokesman.
This attack, on a well protected site within the capital, only shows how weak and insecure Afghanistan remains despite regional and international effort to bring peace and security to the region. Afghanistan’s road to stability will be long and treacherous after nearly decades of war. This attack is also detrimental to the peace-talk efforts America and Afghanistan have made to bring the Taliban to the table.
“It is unfortunate and events like this bolster our resolve for peace,” Afghan National Security Adviser Hamdullah Mohib told reporters at the sidelines of a UN-sponsored conference in Geneva where Ghani repeated calls for peace with the Taliban.
What Do We Know?
Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban spokesperson, said in a press release that this attack comes as a retaliation against the casualties of Taliban personnels by security forces in the Southern Afghan provinces of Helmand and Kandahar.
The G4S is one of the biggest security firms in the world. It is one of the many foreign security contractors operating in Afghanistan and provides guards for an area around the British embassy in Kabul.
“We can confirm that there has been an incident at one of our locations in Kabul. The situation is ongoing and we are coordinating with Afghan authorities to bring it to a conclusion,” the spokeperson from G4S said.
“There was a bang and right after that, all the windows and ceiling collapsed over the children. All of the doors were shattered,” said Hafizullah, a man who had brought his three children to a city hospital. The children were in a house near the compound of the security firm, and were within the radius of the bomb. Surrounding buildings were also damaged as the bomb went off.
Officials from the public health ministry informed the media that 10 bodies and 19 wounded have been brought to the city hospitals, but with the operation continuing late into the night, the ministry has not definitive figures.
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