By Zabihullah Tamanna
KABUL, Afghanistan
The Taliban has claimed responsibility for Friday’s coordinated attack on a NATO base in Kabul which left nine people dead.
At least one NATO service member and eight foreign civil contractors died after Taliban suicide bombers and gunmen stormed the base late on Friday night.
According to the country’s interior ministry, one of the four attackers detonated his explosive-laden car at the gate of the base, paving the way for the remaining assailants to storm the compound.
NATO forces in Afghanistan confirmed the death of its service member in a statement on Saturday.
“A coalition facility (Camp Integrity) was attacked at 10:15 p.m., 7 August. One Resolute Support service member and two insurgent attackers were killed. We are gathering further information,” NATO’s statement read on Saturday.
It added that it was NATO’s policy to defer causality identification procedures to the relevant national authorities.
Kabul on Friday experienced its bloodiest day in 2015 after the Taliban militant group announced its spring offensive.
In another suicide attack, at least 40 people – including civilians and police cadets – were killed and wounded when a suicide bomber blew himself up at the gate of a police academy on Friday evening.
An Afghan police official told Anadolu Agency on condition of anonymity that at least 20 people were killed while 27 others wounded in the incident.
The Taliban’s self-proclaimed spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, claimed responsibility for both of the attacks: “At least 50 cadets were killed and wounded when a suicide bomber detonated his explosive vest in police academy.”
He further claimed that several foreigners and local security personnel were also killed in the attack on NATO’s compound.
Earlier in the day, a truck bomb attack occurred in a residential area near an Afghan army base. A suicide bomber detonated tons of explosives while people were asleep. At least 15 individuals were killed and nearly 400 others, including women and children, were wounded.
Taliban militants have intensified their attacks, targeting NATO and Afghan security forces’ camps and outlaying posts as well as governmental offices, as part of their spring offensive which began in April.
