KABUL: Insurgents killed 19 security personnel in separate assaults in Afghanistan, officials said Thursday, a day after twin bombings in Kabul killed 21 people, including two local TV reporters.
Another 89 people were wounded in Wednesday’s bombings, in a Shiite neighborhood of the capital. The attack bore the hallmarks of the Daesh group, which has carried out a wave of bombings against minority Shiites in recent years. The Taliban denied responsibility.
Later Wednesday, suspected Taliban insurgents overran a security outpost in the northern Badghis province and then ambushed reinforcements, killing a total of 10 soldiers, according to Jamshid Shahabi, a spokesman for the governor.
In what is being described as an insider attack, a local police official in the northern Takhar province turned his weapon on his colleagues early Thursday, killing all eight. Abdul Khali Aseir, the provincial police spokesman, says the gunman escaped.
Two journalists from Afghanistan’s TOLO TV were among those killed in the Kabul bombings. Samim Faramarz and Ramiz Ahmadi were “fearless” reporters who represented what is best in the country, the station said in a posting on Twitter.
“They challenged and pushed boundaries to deliver news to millions daily … We are devastated,” it said.
The UN envoy to Afghanistan, Tadamichi Yamamoto, condemned the “callous attack” in Kabul and expressed “deep concern over the heavy price paid by Afghan media, with the killing of journalists in Afghanistan being among the highest in the world.”
In April, nine journalists who rushed to the scene of an explosion in Kabul were killed by a second suicide bomber. A 10th journalist was killed the same day, shot in eastern Khost province.
Both the Taliban and Daesh carry out near-daily attacks in Afghanistan targeting security forces and government officials, but Daesh also regularly targets Shiites, who it views as apostates.
In the same neighborhood where the twin bombings took place, a Daesh suicide bomber killed 35 high school graduates last month as they sat for their university entrance exams. The dead were all teenagers.
Attacks kill 19 Afghan forces after twin bombings in Kabul
Attacks kill 19 Afghan forces after twin bombings in Kabul
- The attack bore the hallmarks of the Daesh group, which has carried out a wave of bombings against minority Shiites in recent years
- A local police official in the northern Takhar province turned his weapon on his colleagues early Thursday, killing all eight
US-Israeli attack violates international law: South Africa
- Ramaphosa “calls on all parties to exercise maximum restraint and to act in a manner consistent with international law,” a statement said
- Ramaphosa “reiterates his call for intensified diplomatic efforts to de-escalate tensions”
JOHANNESBURG: The US and Israeli strikes on Iran Saturday violated international law, South Africa’s president said, calling for restraint and dialogue.
The allies launched the attack citing “threats” from Iran, which retaliated with a barrage of missiles aimed at Gulf states that host US bases, and at Israel.
President Cyril Ramaphosa “calls on all parties to exercise maximum restraint and to act in a manner consistent with international law, international humanitarian law and the principles of the United Nations Charter,” a statement said.
The UN Charter states that self-defense can only be invoked when a state has been subjected to an armed invasion, the statement from his office said.
It condemned “international law violations,” saying: “Anticipatory self-defense is not permitted under international law and self-defense cannot be based on assumption or anticipation.”
Ramaphosa “reiterates his call for intensified diplomatic efforts to de-escalate tensions and create space for continued meaningful negotiations,” the statement said.
US President Donald Trump said Washington’s goal was “eliminating imminent threats” from Iran, while Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the operation was to remove an “existential threat.”
