Powerful bombing in southern Afghanistan kills 3
A powerful bomb blast has hit a school in southern Afghanistan amid a new surge in Taliban-led attacks across the war-ravaged country, Press TV reports.
Sources in the city of Kandahar said Saturday that the remote-controlled bomb was detonated in front of a school in the Borj Bargh district, killing three people and injuring six more.
No one has claimed the attack, which also inflicted major damage on the school building.
The attack came hours after the Afghan government claimed it had dealt a huge blow to the Taliban in fresh battles with the militant group across the country.
A statement by Afghanistan’s Defense Ministry said 216 Taliban militants have been killed and 142 others have been injured during a “large-scale” operation which started two days ago.
The official statement said 12 Afghan National Army troops also lost their lives during the operation in landmine explosions and exchange of fire with the militants.
Kabul has launched a nationwide campaign to hunt down the Taliban members after the group managed to advance into some urban areas north of the country. That has sparked fears of a return by the notorious group more than a decade after it was removed from power in the 2001 US-led invasion of the country.
Taliban cites the prolonged presence of foreign forces in Afghanistan as a major reason for its attacks. At least 13,500 foreign forces remain in Afghanistan despite the end of the US-led combat mission, which came on December 31, 2014. The forces, mainly from the US, are there for what Washington calls a support mission. NATO says the forces focus mainly on counter-terrorism operations as well as training Afghan soldiers and police officers.
Over the past years, Kandahar has been one of the most affected by the Taliban militancy in Afghanistan. The province by the same name is home to a significant number of Taliban militants, making it a difficult for the government to establish security in the area.
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