In front of the house of the Acting Minister of Defense in Kabul, a car was exploded. The security forces reported the deaths of six people, including four assassins. The defense ministry released a short video of Bismillah Khan Mohammadi on Tuesday before midnight in which he announced that the attack would not affect his determination to serve the country.
The explosion in front of the house of the Acting Minister of Defense, Bismillah Khan Mohammadi, took place around 10 pm local time (7:30 pm in Poland). It was preceded by a bomb attack carried out at 20:00 local time (17.30 in Poland).
The car bomb exploded in the residential suburb of Kabul – Sherpur, also known as the “green zone”, where diplomatic missions and carefully protected government buildings are located, said Interior Ministry spokesman Mirwais Stanekzai.
Exchange of fire after the explosion, perpetrators of the attack wanted
Reports regarding the course of the attack are contradictory, but all indications are that fighters armed with machine guns entered the action immediately after the explosion, writes Reuters. According to the report of the spokesman of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, four bombers were liquidated on the spot by security officers during the fire exchange that followed.
Immediately after the explosion at Sherpur, observers recorded a series of smaller explosions and the sounds of machine guns. All access roads to the explosion site have been blocked, the police are taking steps to clear the area, writes the Reuters agency.
“Hundreds of people in this area of ​​Kabul have been transported to safety,” Kabul police spokesman Ferdaws Faramarz told reporters. I pointed out that the police are searching nearby houses in search of perpetrators.
In front of the house of the Acting Minister of Defense in Kabul, a car was explodedJAWED KARGAR / PAP / EPA
Minister under attack
At least ten people were injured, according to a spokesman for the Ministry of Health, Dastgir Nazari. As Reuters points out, it is not clear whether these people suffered as a result of the explosion or the shooting that occurred immediately after the attack.
According to the Jamiat-e-Islami (Islamic Community of Afghanistan) party, Mohammadi was the target of the attack. As the leader of the Jamiat-e-Islami party and the former vice president of the country, Younus Qanooni, emphasized in the statement on Tuesday, the head of the defense ministry was away from home at the time of the attack and nothing threatened him. A spokesman for the Ministry of Internal Affairs told journalists that the minister’s family had been evacuated and was now in a safe place.
The defense ministry released a short video of Mohammadi on Tuesday before midnight, in which he reported that his security officers were injured. “I want to assure my fellow countrymen that attacks of this kind will in no way affect my determination to serve my country and keep my fellow citizens safe,” he said.
None of the groups took responsibility for this attack, but – as Reuters points out – the attack took place at a time when Taliban forces are carrying out a massive attack in the south and west of the country, seeking to subjugate new territories.
Main photo source: JAWED KARGAR / PAP / EPA