Kabul Attack: Authorities Suspect Taliban Haqqani Network

The German embassy suffered severe damage after the attack in Kabul on 31 May 2017.

The balance is heavy in Afghanistan after the attack in the diplomatic district of Kabul on Wednesday 31 May. The authorities reported 90 deaths and 350 injuries. A truck containing 1.5 tons of explosives exploded a few steps from the Embassy of Germany and France. Scenes of chaos throughout the area: houses destroyed, windows blown 2 km away, the offices of the Embassy of France affected; But there were only a few light casualties in the French diplomatic premises. The truck left a huge crater 20 meters in circumference and several meters deep.

The attack has not yet been claimed. The Taliban were immediately aroused in suspicion because the attack came a few weeks after the launch of the Taliban spring offensive, which said it wanted to attack Afghan government forces and foreign forces as a priority.

The mode of operation closely resembles that used by the insurgents during the attacks they claimed, as in November 2016 during the attack on the consulate of Mazar-e-Sharif in the north of the country. A man had been detonated in a car a few meters from the main entrance. A crater had dug the earth there and caused enormous damage comparable to what we saw here in Kabul yesterday, near the German embassy.

The IE could be the author

Several groups of insurgents, including the organization Islamic state, could be at the origin of this attack. The terrorist group settled in eastern Afghanistan 2 years ago and has multiplied attacks in recent months. They claimed, for example, the one carried out to the military hospital in Kabul last March, killing more than 150 people, or the attack on the RTA, Afghan public radio in Jalalabad in the east of the country. Two weeks killing four civilians and two policemen.

According to Afghan intelligence, the Haqqani network coordinated the attack with the help of Pakistan. It is a group of insurgents close to the Taliban and very active in southern and eastern Afghanistan. The Afghan authorities who had announced an upcoming friendly cricket match finally canceled it last night.