KABUL, Afghanistan: A suicide bomber on foot struck a government vehicle in Kabul Wednesday, killing at least six people and wounding 10 others, officials said, in an attack claimed by the Daesh group.
The latest bombing to hit the Afghan capital came during the morning rush hour, as militants intensify nationwide attacks on the Western-backed government.
“A suicide attacker on foot targeted a vehicle belonging to security forces in downtown Kabul,” interior ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi told AFP.
He put the death toll at six, including five civilians and one military official, with 10 wounded in the blast, which occurred close to the defense ministry.
Earlier, the interior ministry had put the death toll at four, including two security officials.
Another security official told AFP the targeted vehicle belonged to the government’s VIP protection unit.
The SITE monitoring group said the Daesh's (Islamic State’s) local Khorasan province affiliate had claimed the attack in a communique claiming it had targeted Afghan intelligence officials.
Fighters from Daesh, which controls territory across Syria and Iraq, have been making steady inroads in Afghanistan, winning over sympathizers, recruiting followers and challenging the Taliban on their own turf, primarily in the country’s east.
The assault underscores rising insecurity in the war-torn country nearly two years after US-led NATO forces formally ended their combat operations.
It comes after four Americans were killed on Saturday in a suicide bombing inside Bagram Airfield — the largest US military base in Afghanistan — in a major breach of security.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the bombing, which left 16 other US service members and a Polish soldier wounded.
In July, Daesh jihadists claimed responsibility for twin explosions that ripped through crowds of Shiite Hazaras in Kabul, killing at least 85 people and wounding more than 400 others.
The bombings marked the deadliest single attack in the Afghan capital since the Taliban were ousted from power in a 2001 US-led invasion.
Suicide bomber kills six in Afghan capital
Suicide bomber kills six in Afghan capital
Italian police fire tear gas as protesters clash near Winter Olympics hockey venue
- Police vans behind a temporary metal fence secured the road to the athletes’ village, but the protest veered away, continuing on a trajectory toward the Santagiulia venue
MILAN: Italian police fired tear gas and a water cannon at dozens of protesters who threw firecrackers and tried to access a highway near a Winter Olympics venue on Saturday.
The brief confrontation came at the end of a peaceful march by thousands against the environmental impact of the Games and the presence of US agents in Italy.
Police held off the violent demonstrators, who appeared to be trying to reach the Santagiulia Olympic ice hockey rink, after the skirmish. By then, the larger peaceful protest, including families with small children and students, had dispersed.
Earlier, a group of masked protesters had set off smoke bombs and firecrackers on a bridge overlooking a construction site about 800 meters (a half-mile) from the Olympic Village that’s housing around 1,500 athletes.
Police vans behind a temporary metal fence secured the road to the athletes’ village, but the protest veered away, continuing on a trajectory toward the Santagiulia venue. A heavy police presence guarded the entire route.
There was no indication that the protest and resulting road closure interfered with athletes’ transfers to their events, all on the outskirts of Milan.
The demonstration coincided with US Vice President JD Vance’s visit to Milan as head of the American delegation that attended the opening ceremony on Friday.
He and his family visited Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper” closer to the city center, far from the protest, which also was against the deployment of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to provide security to the US delegation.
US Homeland Security Investigations, an ICE unit that focuses on cross-border crimes, frequently sends its officers to overseas events like the Olympics to assist with security. The ICE arm at the forefront of the immigration crackdown in the US is known as Enforcement and Removal Operations, and there is no indication its officers are being sent to Italy.
At the larger, peaceful demonstration, which police said numbered 10,000, people carried cardboard cutouts to represent trees felled to build the new bobsled run in Cortina. A group of dancers performed to beating drums. Music blasted from a truck leading the march, one a profanity-laced anti-ICE anthem.
“Let’s take back the cities and free the mountains,” read a banner by a group calling itself the Unsustainable Olympic Committee. Another group called the Association of Proletariat Excursionists organized the cutout trees.
“They bypassed the laws that usually are needed for major infrastructure project, citing urgency for the Games,” said protester Guido Maffioli, who expressed concern that the private entity organizing the Games would eventually pass on debt to Italian taxpayers.
Homemade signs read “Get out of the Games: Genocide States, Fascist Police and Polluting Sponsors,” the final one a reference to fossil fuel companies that are sponsors of the Games. One woman carried an artificial tree on her back decorated with the sign: “Infernal Olympics.”
The demonstration followed another last week when hundreds protested the deployment of ICE agents.
Like last week, demonstrators Saturday said they were opposed to ICE agents’ presence, despite official statements that a small number of agents from an investigative arm would be present in US diplomatic territory, and not operational on the streets.
