Dozens Killed in Taliban Attack on Central Kabul, Setting Back Latest Peace Talks
Dozens Killed in Taliban Attack on Central Kabul, Setting Back Latest Peace Talks by Sayed Salahuddin and Pamela Constable – Washington Post
Dozens of Afghans were killed Monday morning and more than 105 injured in a brazen strike by Taliban militants on a security compound in the heart of Kabul, officials said, dimming hopes for a new round of U.S.-Taliban peace talks in Qatar that began Saturday.
Security officials said all the attackers were killed by late afternoon after an eight-hour gun battle that shut down the Afghan capital when a truck bomb exploded outside the Ministry of Defense, and five heavily armed insurgents managed to enter the compound.
The Taliban quickly claimed responsibility for the attack, which officials said had left up to 40 people dead, many of them members of the security forces. There was no public confirmation of that casualty number. Only three soldiers and one civilian have been officially confirmed dead. Health officials also said half of those wounded were children at two schools near the blast site…