Death toll rises to 25 in Kabul attack

42 people, including 10 foreigners, rescued in the attack, all assailants were killed

Afghan security personnel and residents walk at the site of a car bomb blast that targeted the CARE International compound at Shar-e-Naw in Kabul. Pic/AFP

Kabul: Explosions and gunfire rang out during an hours-long attack on a Kabul charity, the latest assault in a wave of violence in the Afghan capital that killed at least 25 people and wounded dozens.

The assault on a charity called Pamlarena began on Monday with a massive explosion, just hours after a brazen Taliban double bombing near the defence ministry.

“Forty-two people including 10 foreigners were rescued” after the attack, interior ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said on Twitter.

The attack on the charity had been preceded by twin Taliban blasts that killed at least 24 people during the city’s rush hour Monday, including high-level officials, and left 91 others wounded.

Health ministry spokesman Waheed Majroh said the casualties from the bombing could rise as some of the wounded battled for their lives in hospital.

“The enemies of Afghanistan have lost their ability to fight the security forces of the country,” President Ashraf Ghani said on Monday.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said on Twitter the defence ministry was the object of the first attack, while police was targeted in the second.

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