Seven killed in suicide attack near Kabul prison

KABUL: An Afghan woman walks with her children up a steep street in Kabul. — AFP

HEART: An Afghan army helicopter carrying 25 people crashed in western Afghanistan yesterday, killing all those on board, officials said. The aircraft crashed due to "bad weather" in Anar Dara district, which borders Iran, Farah provincial governor spokesman Nasir Mehri said. The Taleban claimed its militants brought it down. Both pilots and 23 passengers were killed. Among the dead were the deputy army corps commander for western Afghanistan and the head of the Farah provincial council, Mehri said. Provincial council member Dadullah Qaneh said the helicopter hit a mountain peak in poor weather en route to neighboring Herat province.

Senior government and military officials often travel by helicopter in regions where the Taleban has a large presence. Helicopter crashes are not uncommon in the mountainous, war-torn country. In September, an Afghan military helicopter carrying weapons and ammunition burst into flames during an "emergency landing" in Farah, killing at least four people. Earlier that month at least 12 people were killed, including two Ukrainians, when a helicopter owned by a Moldovan company crashed in the northern province of Balkh.

The aircraft also was carrying munitions and exploded on impact, Afghan officials said. Western forces have been rebuilding Afghanistan's air force, which was decimated by the civil war of the 1990s and the turbulent period of Taleban rule that ended in 2001. NATO's Resolute Support mission in Afghanistan has been training pilots and ground controllers across the country as part of a modernization effort. US Forces' officials told AFP in February that Afghanistan's air force includes four C-130 transport aircraft, 24 C-208 supply planes, 24 Russian Mi-17 helicopters that will be replaced by 159 UH-60 Black Hawks, 12 A-29 Super Tacano attack planes, and 25 MD-530 attack helicopters.

Suicide attack

In another development, a suicide bomber targeting a bus carrying employees of Afghanistan's biggest prison killed at least seven people yesterday, officials said, in the latest militant attack in the war-torn country. Another eight were wounded in the blast at the entrance to the facility in Kabul, which police spokesman Basir Mujahid said hit a vehicle ferrying Pul-e-Charkhi prison staff. Among the casualties were police officers guarding the main gate and prison staff. The attacker was on foot, interior ministry spokesman Najib Danish said.

He struck as the bus was entering the jail in the east of the Afghan capital. The Islamic State group (IS) claimed responsibility for the attack via its Amaq propaganda agency, SITE Intelligence Group said. IS has claimed most suicide attacks in Kabul in recent months. The attack comes days after a suicide bomber blew himself up near the entrance of Afghanistan's Independent Election Commission in Kabul, killing at least one person and wounding six.

A wave of election-related violence has killed or wounded hundreds across the country in recent months as the Taleban and IS step up attacks on Afghan security forces and government workers. Afghanistan's long-delayed parliamentary election, which was held over three days this month, was marred by chaos and deadly attacks. Two days before voting began on October 20, a Taleban-claimed shooting killed a powerful police chief in the southern province of Kandahar.

General Abdul Raziq was among three people killed in the brazen insider attack on a high-level security meeting in the provincial capital that was attended by General Scott Miller, the top US and NATO commander in Afghanistan. Miller escaped unhurt, but US Brigadier General Jeffrey Smiley was among 13 people wounded in the shooting, which the Taleban said had targeted Miller and Raziq. US officials and NATO's Resolute Support mission in Afghanistan were adamant that Miller had not been a target. Several days later another Taleban-claimed assault killed a NATO soldier and and wounded two others-all from the Czech Republic-in the western province of Herat.

The attacks came amid a flurry of US-led diplomatic activity to convince the Taleban, Afghanistan's largest militant group, to negotiate an end to the 17-year war. Earlier this month, newly appointed US peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad met with Taleban representatives in Qatar. Less than two weeks later a top Taleban commander held in Pakistani detention for more than eight years was freed. A senior Taleban leader told AFP the group had requested the release of Abdul Ghani Baradar and several others at the meeting with Khalilzad. The group confirmed Wednesday it had appointed five former Guantanamo Bay detainees to its political office in Doha who have authority to "talk about peace". - Agencies