Suicide attack kills 44 in Afghanistan
Insurgents wearing Afghan army uniforms launched a suicide attack and stormed a courthouse in a failed bid to free Taliban inmates, killing at least 44 people.
Nine attackers died in the incident, which raised fears of deteriorating security as international combat forces withdraw by the end of 2014 and hand over control to Afghan security forces.
The attack began when nine men wearing suicide vests drove into the capital of Farah province in western Afghanistan, evading checkpoints by using army vehicles, according to the provincial police chief.
The stand-off ended some eight hours later when the last gunman was killed.
Insurgents have stepped up assaults targeting the Farah provincial government in recent months as they vie for control of an area bordering Iran to the west and Helmand province to the east.
Two assailants blew themselves up inside one of the vehicles while the others jumped out and ran toward the courthouse and prosecutor’s office, provincial police chief Agha Noor Kemtoz said.
He said the attack aimed to free more than a dozen Taliban prisoners who were being transferred to the courthouse for trial, which had not yet started.
“Definitely the plan was to free the prisoners with this attack, but thank God, they did not succeed,” he said. “All the prisoners are accounted for.”
Guards opened fire, killing one of the attackers, as the others engaged in a fierce gun battle that left civil servants and government officials holed up in their offices.
Other civilians fled to the basement of the courthouse, where gunmen found them and killed 21 people, officials said.
Provincial Governor Akram Akhpewak said those killed included 34 civilians, including judges and prosecutors, 10 members of the security forces and the nine attackers.
Dr Abdul Hakim Rasouli, chief of the Farah hospital, said 80 people also were wounded.
Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi claimed responsibility for the attack in a text message sent to reporters, although some witnesses questioned whether the assailants were Afghans.
It was the deadliest strike since October 26, when a suicide bomber detonated explosives outside a mosque packed with senior regional officials in the northern Afghan province of Faryab, killing 41 people on a major Muslim holiday.
In other violence, Taliban gunmen attacked a local police patrol late on Tuesday in Paktika province and six insurgents were killed in the fighting, according to a statement from the governor’s office.
A roadside bomb then struck a police vehicle as it was leaving the area, killing four police, it said.
Four police officers also were killed and one was wounded on Tuesday when their vehicle hit a roadside bomb in Kunar province during an operation to clear the area of explosives.
