Afghan Police, Intelligence Chiefs Killed In Shooting Attack
Gen. Abdul Raziq
RFE/RL’s Radio Free Afghanistan
October 18, 2018
The police chief and intelligence head of the southern Afghan province of Kandahar have been killed in a shooting attack, officials say, in a major blow to the West-backed government in Kabul.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the October 18 assault that came just two days before parliamentary elections.
Afghan officials told RFE/RL’s Radio Free Afghanistan that a bodyguard opened fire after a meeting in the governor’s compound between senior Afghan and U.S. security officials.
The powerful police chief of Kandahar, General Abdul Raziq, and the provincial intelligence head, Abdul Momin, were shot and killed, they said.
There were conflicting reports about the fate of governor Zalmai Wesa, with several lawmakers saying all three men had been killed.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani in a short speech confirmed the deaths of the police and intelligence chiefs, but didn’t mention the governor.
NATO Resolute Support spokesman Grant Neely told RFE/RL that the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, General Scott Miller, was present at the meeting but was unhurt.
Colonel Dave Butler, a spokesman for U.S. forces in Afghanistan, said “three Americans were wounded, have been medically evacuated and are stable.”
Butler said the gunman had been killed and that Afghan officials were the “target of the violence.”
Around 14,000 U.S. troops are currently in Afghanistan, and Pentagon spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Kone Faulkner told Reuters that the attack in Kandahar “will not change U.S. resolve in our South Asia strategy, [and] if anything it makes us more resolute.”
The Taliban claimed responsibility in a statement, saying, “The brutal police chief of Kandahar has been killed along several other officials.”
“The target was General Miller and General Raziq,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said on Twitter.
An Afghan journalist working for state media was also killed, according to NAI, a group supporting open media in the country.
Fearsome Reputation
Raziq was one of Afghanistan’s most powerful commanders with a fearsome reputation as an enemy of the Taliban.
A close ally of the U.S. military, Raziq, has been credited with pacifying large swaths of Kandahar but has been accused by human rights groups of gross human rights violations, including forcible disappearances, torture, and extrajudicial killings.
Afghanistan is on high alert ahead of the long-delayed parliamentary elections on October 20, after the Taliban pledged to block the vote.
More than 2,500 candidates are competing for 249 seats in the lower house of parliament.
The run-up to the elections has been marred by deadly militant attacks and targeted killings of candidates, 10 of whom have been killed so far.
With reporting by Reuters and AFP
Copyright (c) 2018. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036.
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Afghan Candidate Killed In Blast Claimed By Taliban
Abdul Jabar Qahraman
RFE/RL’s Radio Free Afghanistan
October 17, 2018
An Afghan candidate has been killed in an explosion in his office in the southern province of Helmand, officials said, as violence escalates ahead of the October 20 parliamentary elections.
Abdul Jabar Qahraman was killed in the explosion of a bomb apparently placed under a sofa in his office, a senior government official said.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack. Helmand is a Taliban stronghold.
Seven more people were wounded in the explosion, provincial governor spokesman Omar Zhwak said.
Qahraman “was meeting his supporters in his election campaign office” when a bomb under his sofa detonated, Zhwak said.
The attack takes the number of candidates killed to at least 10.
In a separate incident, a German military transport helicopter was shot at though no injuries were reported during a flight in Afghanistan’s northern Kunduz Province, the German military said in a statement late on October 16.
Poll-related violence has increased ahead of the long-delayed vote.
On October 16, dozens of Afghan police officers were killed in two attacks claimed by the Taliban in the northern province of Samangan and in the central province of Daikundi.
With reporting by Reuters, AFP, and dpa
Copyright (c) 2018. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036.
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Dozens Of Afghan Police Officers Killed In Taliban Attacks
Taliban militants (file photo)
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October 16, 2018
Dozens of Afghan police officers have been killed in two attacks claimed by the Taliban in north and central Afghanistan, just days before parliamentary elections that the militants have threatened to disrupt.
A militant assault on security outposts in the northern Samangan region on October 16 killed several police officers, including a deputy provincial police chief, provincial Governor Abdul Latif Ibrahimi said.
Taliban fighters attacked and overran several checkpoints overnight in the district of Dari Suf, including the provincial head of police intelligence, provincial council members Sefatullah Samangani and Mohammad Pazir Baseej said.
Ibrahimi said seven police officers were killed and another five were wounded in the attack. He said the attackers made away with two armored personnel carriers, a police vehicle and an ambulance.
Samangani and Baseej said the number of the dead could be as high as 20.
Several members of the security forces fled following the intense fighting and it was not known where they were, the officials said.
In the central province of Daikundi, hundreds of militants equipped with heavy weapons attacked checkpoints in the Kajran district.
Eight Afghan soldiers and five police were killed in the hours-long battle, Ali Akbar Nateqi, the provincial governor’s spokesman said.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for both attacks, claiming that 30 police officers were killed in Samangan and 19 were killed in Daikundi, with large quantities of weapons and equipment and captured.
The attacks did not appear to have a direct link with elections on October 20.
But they highlighted the strength of the Taliban, who controls large parts of the country and has stepped up attacks on Afghan security forces and government facilities in recent months.
On October 14, the Taliban attacked an army base in western Afghanistan, killing 17 Afghan soldiers. They also overran two checkpoints near the base, seizing weapons and ammunition.
With reporting by dpa and AP
Copyright (c) 2018. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036.
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