Afghanistan | Death toll rises to 45 in Taliban attack

Afghan security forces inspect the site of a Taliban attack in Maidan Shar, capital of Maidan Wardak province, east of Kabul

Afghanistan was reeling yesterday from a brazen Taliban assault on a military base in the country’s east the previous day that killed at least 45 people and wounded as many as 70, most of them military personnel, according to provincial officials.

There were fears, however, that the death toll from the daytime assault on the base, which also serves as a training center for a pro-government militia and is run by the country’s intelligence service, was even higher.

The attack began when a suicide bomber drove a Humvee into the base in eastern Maidan Wardak province and detonated his load as he rammed the vehicle into the main building there, according to Khawanin Sultani, a council member.

The building collapsed from the explosion, which likely contributed to the high casualty numbers.

The Taliban, who promptly claimed responsibility in a statement to the media just hours after the attack, later said in a separate statement that they had met again yesterday [Macau time] with U.S. representatives to discuss “ending the invasion of Afghanistan” in talks that would continue today. They are meeting in Qatar, where the Taliban have a political office.

The simultaneousness of the events — the deadly attack, one of the worst Taliban assaults on Afghan forces in recent years — and the Qatar meeting that was meant to pave way for talks aimed at resolving Afghanistan’s 17-year war, underscored the audacity of the insurgents in the face of stepped-up U.S. peace efforts.

The Taliban, who now hold sway in almost half of Afghanistan, carry out attacks on a daily basis, mainly targeting the country’s beleaguered security forces.

The base that was hit is located on the outskirts of Maidan Shar, the provincial capital, about 40 kilometers from Kabul. Sultani said that after the Taliban bombing, four other attackers engaged in a shootout with Afghan troops and that all the attackers were killed.

“The main building inside the base collapsed and most of the bodies were under the destroyed building,” he said.

Sultani said there were about 150 military personnel and others at the base at the time. The pro-government militia that was hit had been responsible for and highly effective in securing the province, especially two important highways linking Kabul with the provinces of Kandahar, Maidan Wardak and Bamyan.

“They had participated in so many operations alongside other security forces and had fought against insurgents,” Sultani added, speaking about the militia.

A provincial security official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media, told the AP that he personally counted as many as 75 dead bodies at the base. There was no official confirmation of a higher toll.

Dozens of ambulances took the wounded to the main provincial hospital as well as to Kabul for further treatment, the official said, adding that there were fears the death toll would keep rising. The blast was so strong that windows of civilian homes seen in the distance from the base were also shattered, he said. Amir Shah & Rahim Faiez, Kabul, AP