Car bomb attack in northern Afghanistan kills 4 police, leaves at least 20 wounded

At least four Afghan policemen have been killed and 20 others, including eight civilians, have been wounded in a car bomb attack in the northern province of Faryab, the provincial governor said on Tuesday.

Governor Naqibulllah Faiq said the car bomb attack was carried out on Monday evening by the Taliban. The militants detonated “a Humvee loaded with explosives” near the police headguards of Almar district.

Dozens of houses and shops in the area were damaged in the attack, and a gunfight between attackers and police began after the explosion, which continued until Tuesday morning, according to the governor. The district police chief was among the wounded, Faiq said.

Neither the Taliban nor any other group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

This was the second car bomb attack in Afghanistan over the past two days. In the southern Kandahar province, a truck bomb detonated on Monday, killing 14 people and injuring 49 others.

The bombing in Faryab came as the Taliban declared on Tuesday that they remain committed to the implementation of the peace agreement they signed with the United States in February. The militant group said in a statement they expect the new US administration to withdraw all US forces from Afghanistan, and to stop interference in the country’s affairs.

Despite Taliban commitments to reduce violence, a new report published by the US Special Inspector for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) said that 876 civilians were killed and 1,685 were wounded from July 1 to September 30 this year. The casualties increased by 43 percent compared to the previous quarter, amid “an ongoing peace process” in Afghanistan.

Think your friends would be interested? Share this story!