A day after the visit of German Chancellor Angela Merkel to Kunduz, the Afghan Taliban have attacked a major military recruitment base in the northern Afghan city.
Ms. Merkel was said to be on a “morale boosting” visit to the city, where German troops have been deployed.
"The purpose of her (Ms. Merkel’s) trip was to give morale to her soldiers. But today the successful attack is shaking the hearts of the occupation soldiers," Taliban spokesman Zaibullah Mujahid was quoted as saying.
In the brazen assault, the attackers appeared to have deliberately targeted what was seen as a well guarded facility in the middle of the city, with several outer rings of security. The recruitment centre which four suicide bombers targeted is around 100 meters from the police chief’s office. It is a location which also has several other important government buildings around. Five soldiers and three policemen were killed while three of the assailants also died in the fire-fight that ensued. Around 20 recruits were also injured. Around
100 people were trapped inside the building which local and foreign troops had surrounded.
In a separate attack aimed at deterring local inflow into the security forces, militants targeted an army bus full of soldiers in Kabul outside the country’s main military recruiting centre. Five soldiers were killed after a suicide bomber detonated his explosives.
Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai said that the “criminal” attacks had been carried out by “enemies of the Afghan people.”
AP reports from Kabul:
“The purpose of her trip was to give morale to her soldiers. But today the successful attack is shaking the hearts of the occupation soldiers,” said Mr. Mujahid.
Most of the fighting in Afghanistan has been concentrated in the south. An internal review of President Barack Obama's year-old war strategy unveiled on Thursday noted progress against Taliban momentum, particularly in southern areas which saw a surge of international troop levels. But the Taliban have been showing they can strike outside those areas, and violence has increased elsewhere in the country this year the deadliest in the nearly 10-year war for foreign troops. NATO said an international service member died in a bomb attack in the south on Sunday, bringing the total number of foreign troops killed in Afghanistan this year to 690, according to an Associated Press count.
