Taliban suicide bomber kills 9 troops in eastern Afghanistan

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, right, and political rival Abdullah Abdullah announced a power-sharing agreement Sunday in Kabul.

May 18, 2020 Updated 2:27 AM PT

KABUL, Afghanistan — A suicide bomber in a stolen military Humvee targeted a base in eastern Afghanistan belonging to the country’s intelligence service early Monday, killing at least nine members of the force, Afghan officials said. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack.

At least 40 members of the force were wounded in the attack near the city of Ghazni, according to Arif Noori, the spokesman for the provincial governor. Eight of the wounded were in critical condition and were transferred to the capital, Kabul, for further treatment, Noori added.

Earlier reports had said there were seven dead, but Tariq Arian, spokesman for the Afghan interior minister, confirmed the latest toll.

Noori said the bomber used a stolen military Humvee and detonated his vehicle full of explosives as he approached the main gate of the entrance. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the insurgents were behind the attack in Ghazni province, where the Taliban control most of the countryside and the rural areas. The provincial capital, also called Ghazni, briefly fell to Taliban control twice in recent years. The province has in the past been the scene of many large-scale attacks against both Afghan and NATO forces.

The attack came a day after Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and his political rival, Abdullah Abdullah, signed a power-sharing agreement, two months after each declared himself the winner of September’s presidential election.

The political deal would see Ghani remain president of the war-torn nation while Abdullah would lead the country’s National Reconciliation High Council.

Ghani and Abdullah, who held parallel inauguration ceremonies in March, had been locked in a power struggle since the vote. The discord prompted the Trump administration to announce it would cut $1 billion in assistance to Afghanistan if the two Afghan leaders did not work out their differences.

A peace agreement between the U.S. and the Taliban, signed Feb. 29, calls for American and NATO troops to leave Afghanistan. It was seen at the time as Afghanistan’s best chance at peace, following decades of war.

Since the signing, the U.S. has been trying to get the Taliban and the Afghan government to begin intra-Afghan negotiations, but the political turmoil and personal acrimony between Ghani and Abdullah impeded talks. Negotiations that were to take place in March never happened.

U.S. Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo spoke with the two leaders Sunday, saying he was pleased by their willingness to move toward intra-Afghan negotiations but “regretted the time lost.”

Violence has continued unabated in Afghanistan.

On Tuesday, militants stormed a maternity hospital in Kabul, killing 24 people, including mothers, nurses and two babies. The attack set off an hours-long shootout with police; the attack also left 16 wounded in the hospital, which is supported by international aid group Doctors Without Borders. No one claimed responsibility for the attack on the clinic in Dashti Barchi, a mostly Shiite neighborhood in Kabul.

Also on Tuesday, a suicide bomber targeted the funeral of a pro-government militia commander and former warlord in the eastern province of Nangarhar, killing 32 people and wounding 133 others. That attack was claimed by the Islamic State group.

In a televised speech hours after the attacks, Ghani called on security forces to attack Taliban insurgents, a turn from the defensive posture the government said it maintained since the U.S.-Taliban deal.

“The Taliban have not given up fighting and killing Afghans; instead, they have increased their attacks on our countrymen and public places,” Ghani said.

The Taliban said Monday’s attack in Ghazni was a response to the government’s recent declaration of war.