Ayaz Gul
VOA News
May 20, 2024
ISLAMABAD — Authorities in Afghanistan said Monday that a bomb blast had killed at least one person and injured three others in the southern city of Kandahar, the political headquarters of the country’s hardline Taliban rulers.
The bomb was planted in a handcart on a road leading to the national capital, Kabul, and the victims were civilians, a Kandahar police statement said. It added that an investigation into the attack was underway to apprehend and bring to justice those responsible.
Multiple sources claimed that the bombing had targeted Taliban security forces, and the death toll was significantly higher than what was officially reported.
No group immediately took responsibility for the attack, but suspicion fell on a regional Islamic State affiliate, known as IS-Khorasan or IS-K, which routinely targets members of the Taliban and the country’s minority Shi’ite community.
Bamiyan attack
The bombing in Kandahar came a day after IS-K said it was behind a gun attack against foreign tourists in the central province of Bamiyan Friday. The shooting resulted in the deaths of three Spanish citizens and three Afghans, with four other tourists from Spain, Australia, Norway, and Lithuania sustaining injuries.
Bamiyan is a popular designation for foreign tourists because it is home to a UNESCO World Heritage site and the remains of two giant Buddha statues that were blown up by the Taliban during their previous rule in 2001.
Militant attacks are extremely rare in Kandahar, where the reclusive Taliban supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, lives and effectively governs Afghanistan from there through religious edicts stemming from his strict interpretation of Islam.
The most recent IS-K-claimed bombing in the city, known as the historical birthplace of the Taliban, occurred in late March when a suicide bomber targeted a crowd of government employees collecting salaries outside a bank, killing at least three of them.
The Taliban stormed back to power in Kabul in 2021 when the United States and NATO troops withdrew from the country after nearly 20 years of involvement in the Afghan war.
Khaama: The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has announced that the return of Afghan refugees from Pakistan has made the polio vaccination campaign in the country more challenging. Stevan Lauwerier, head of the polio eradication program, called for increased efforts to eliminate polio among returning refugees from Pakistan during his visit to the Torkham border on Sunday, May 19. 
Ariana: Aino Mina FC thrashed Maiwand FC 10-2 in the 59th match of the Afghanistan Champions League (ACL) in Kabul on Sunday. Highest scoring player was Ahmad Nabi Moqadas, who drove the ball into the net five times and was later declared man of the match. In the second match Sunday, Attack Energy thumped Mawj Sahil 4-0. The man of the match of this game was Ahmad Nabi Moqadas. Monday will see two matches, both to be broadcast live by Ariana Television. In the first match of the day, Sorkh Poshan Khafi will take on Abu Muslim Farah FC at 1pm. The next match will see Istiqlal Kabul FC take on Sarsabz Yashlar FC at 3.30pm. 
AFP: The Islamic State group on Sunday claimed responsibility for a deadly attack in Afghanistan that targeted tourists and killed three Spaniards and three Afghans. The jihadist group said in a statement on its Telegram channels that “fighters shot at Christian tourists and their Shiite companions with machine guns” in the mountainous city of Bamiyan on Friday. 
Afghanistan International: The National Resistance Front (NRF) has announced that their forces killed four Taliban members and injured two others in an attack on a Taliban vehicle. NRF stated that the attack occurred near the Taliban’s security command in Takhar on Saturday afternoon. According to their social media post on X, the attack took place at 2:45 PM, just 20 meters from the Taliban’s security headquarters in Takhar. 
