Security

Taliban raid on NDS office in Samangan kills at least 11

AFP

A wounded member of the National Directorate of Security (NDS) is brought on a stretcher to a hospital after a car bomb exploded in Aibak, Samangan Province, on July 13. [AFP]

A wounded member of the National Directorate of Security (NDS) is brought on a stretcher to a hospital after a car bomb exploded in Aibak, Samangan Province, on July 13. [AFP]

MAZAR-E-SHARIF -- At least 11 security personnel were killed Monday (July 13) in an attack claimed by the Taliban on a rural office of Afghanistan's intelligence agency, officials said.

The insurgents said a suicide bomber detonated a device inside a car near the National Directorate of Security (NDS) while gunmen stormed the building in Aibak city.

Eleven people were killed and 63 others, mostly civilians, were wounded in the explosion and gunfire, Samangan Governor Abdul Latif Ibrahimi told AFP.

The fighting, which lasted for nearly four hours, ended after security forces shot dead three armed men, governor's spokesman Muhammad Sediq Azizi said.

"It was a huge explosion that broke all our windows," said witness Haseeb, who gave only one name. He is a government employee who works near the NDS compound.

"Many people have been wounded by flying pieces of glass."

President Ashraf Ghani condemned the attack.

"Resorting to continue violence and killing people to gain concessions in the talks is the worst approach that regretfully the Taliban has adopted," Ghani said in a statement.

In recent months, the Taliban have carried out near-daily attacks against Afghan forces -- even as the government prepares to engage in peace talks with the militants aimed at ending the war.

In two separate terrorist acts on Sunday (July 12) blamed on the Taliban, at least 19 security personnel were killed, officials said.

A group of 12 soldiers and police were killed in a seven-hour battle with Taliban fighters who attacked their outpost in Kunduz Province, Mohammad Yusuf Ayubi, the provincial council chief, said.

Taliban forces have regularly attacked security forces in the province, often attempting to enter Kunduz city, which has briefly fallen twice to the militants in recent years.

In the second attack July 12, in Badakhshan, seven policemen were killed in fighting with Taliban fighters, Naik Muhammad Nazari, spokesman to the governor, said.

The Taliban claimed both attacks in Kunduz and Badakhshan.

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Taliban committed a very big crime in Samangan Province yesterday. The government should avoid such attacks. If we look at the reality, the government has much weakness in the area of intelligence. The government should hire professional and expert people in the security and intelligence agencies so that they can prevent occurrence of the terrorist attacks.

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The National Directorate of Security is the largest intelligence institution in the country; its task is to identify and defuse enemy’s attacks. Yesterday the people of Samangan lost their beloved ones because of incompetency of the National Directorate of Security of Samangan and the incompetency of Amirshah Sadat, director of the National Directorate of Security of Samangan province, and now Mr. Sadat must respond to both the honorable people of Samangan and the government.

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In fact, the current government has failed to prevent terrorist attacks. The reason is that intelligent people have not been appointed in the security sectors, but all of the government's appointments were based on relations. You saw that the President has brought a computer engineer and appointed him as a National Security Adviser. He brought another computer engineer and appointed him as the Minister of Interior. Asadullah Khalid, a corrupt, playboy, and a person who lacks military experience, was appointed as the minister of defense. And to please his Western masters, he appointed some beautiful girls, who do not have military experience at all, as the deputies of the Ministry of National Defense and the Ministry of Interior, while hundreds of experienced generals are jobless at the moment, or work on very low positions.

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The Afghan government must strengthen security agencies, especially its intelligence department. If our intelligence department was strong, it could prevent yesterday’s terrorist attack on the National Security Directorate of Samangan Province. A terrorist group came, and launched an attack on the facility of the National Directorate of Security which is considered the nucleus of security, but they did not have prior information. When they cannot take their own security and cannot prevent enemy’s attacks, how can they take security of other government departments? Unfortunately, we have to accepted that our intelligence is very weak.

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Taliban is a mercenary, arrogant, bloodthirsty, and terrorist group. They will never make peace with the government of Afghanistan. They want absolute power in Afghanistan. They do not believe in the democratic system, elections, pluralism, freedom of women, and freedom of media. They want a system which should not be in any country of the world now. Therefore, the Afghan government's peaceful efforts will not have any results. Taliban will continue to kill and carry out their terrorist attacks until they overthrow the current government.

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