News / Afghanistan

Bomb blast kills lawmaker, three others in Afghan capital

Sunday, 05 June 2016 5:45 PM [ Last Update: Sunday, 05 June 2016 5:45 PM ]

Afghan security personnel keep watch as they take part in an operation against Taliban militants in the Aliabad district of Kunduz Province, May 31, 2016. (Photo by AFP)

A powerful bomb explosion in the Afghan capital of Kabul has killed a parliament member and at least three other people, security sources say.

Local Afghan security officials said that the casualties were caused after an improvised explosive device (IED) was detonated in the house of the lawmaker, Sherwali Wardak, in the 5th police district of Kabul on Sunday evening.

The explosive device was hidden in an electric box and went off upon Sherwali’s arrival, lawmaker Hamid Ahmadzai told Khaama press.

Sherwali, who suffered serious injuries in the explosion, died on the way to hospital.

He was the brother of Farooq Wardak, who is an influential political figure and a former minister of education.

No individual or group has claimed responsibility for the blast.

The attack came hours after Taliban militants stormed a courthouse in Pule-e-Alam in Logar Province, killing seven people, including a newly-appointed chief prosecutor.

Meanwhile, Nicholas Haysom, the head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) has strongly denounced the courthouse attack.

Afghan security forces stand alert at the entrance to a provincial court in Ghazni, June 1, 2016. (Photo by AFP)

In a statement, Haysom urged senior Afghan authorities to do everything in their power to ensure adequate protection for judicial officials and other civilians seeking access to judicial institutions.

“Judicial officials and other civilians can never be considered combatants and thus should not be targeted,” he said.

The intensified attacks by the Taliban come more than one and a half months after the group began its annual spring offensive. The fresh assaults also follow recent selection of Haibatullah Akhundzada as the new leader of the Taliban.

Estimates show that about 200,000 people have been killed in less than three decades of Taliban militancy in Afghanistan.

The government in Kabul has undertaken a series of initiatives for peace with the group, although fighting continues unabated across the country.

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