On the morning of 19 April 2016,
Taliban
The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state (polity), state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalism, Islamic fundamentalist, m ...
militants attacked a security team responsible for protecting government
VIP
A very important person or personage (VIP or V.I.P.) is a person who is accorded special privileges due to their high social status, influence or importance. The term was not common until sometime after World War 2 by RAF pilots.
Examples inc ...
s in
Kabul
Kabul (; ps, , ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province; it is administratively divided into 22 municipal districts. Acco ...
,
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
. The initial attack killed 64 people and wounded 347. It was their biggest attack on an urban area since 2001.
Bombings
Local broadcaster
TOLOnews
TOLOnews (Pashto/ Persian: ) is Afghanistan's first 24/7 news television channel, owned by MOBY Group, launched in August, 2010. Its sister channels are TOLO TV and Lemar TV in Afghanistan.
The channel is available on terrestrial across Afghanis ...
reported that the attack involved a
suicide bomber
A suicide attack is any violent attack, usually entailing the attacker detonating an explosive, where the attacker has accepted their own death as a direct result of the attacking method used. Suicide attacks have occurred throughout histor ...
detonating a vehicle laden with "hundreds of kilograms of explosives" and the militants then making their way into the compound of "Department 10" of the
National Directorate of Security
The National Directorate of Security (NDS; ps, د ملي امنیت لوی ریاست; prs, ریاست عمومی امنیت ملی) was the national intelligence and security service of Afghanistan. The headquarters of the NDS was in Kabul, ...
(NDS)
and opening fire. The bomb that detonated caused a ceiling to collapse in a classroom where elite intelligence officers were being trained. An Afghan security official said members of that unit accounted for about half of the people killed.
The local broadcast station said that a two-hour gun battle ensued between the militants and security forces.
Developments
Sediq Sediqi, a spokesman for the Afghani
Interior Ministry, said that despite the target, most of the victims were civilians.
, spokesman for the Public Health Ministry, said that 327 wounded have been brought to area hospitals.
On 20 April 2016, Sediqi confirmed in a tweet that 64 "innocent Afghans" were killed and 347 wounded.
spokesman
Zabihullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the attack.
He said as many as 92 security staff and soldiers were killed.
It came after the group announced its annual spring offensive
Operation Omari.
Reactions
Domestic
President
Ashraf Ghani
Mohammad Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai (born 19 May 1949) is an Afghan politician, academic, and economist who served as the president of Afghanistan from September 2014 until August 2021, when his government was overthrown by the Taliban.
Born in ...
issued a statement saying that the attack proved that the Taliban were growing weak and therefore resorting to
asymmetric warfare
Asymmetric warfare (or asymmetric engagement) is the term given to describe a type of war between belligerents whose relative military power, strategy or tactics differ significantly. This is typically a war between a standing, professional ar ...
.
Shortly after the attack, women's rights activist
Wazhma Frogh wrote on
Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
that the attacks took place near schools and that parents were attempting to protect their children.
Some parliamentarians strongly condemned President Ashraf Ghani for failing to provide security from the terrorist attacks.
International
Supranational unions
*
NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...
: General
John W. Nicholson Jr., commander of the
Resolute Support Mission
Resolute Support Mission (RSM) or Operation Resolute Support was a NATO-led multinational mission in Afghanistan. It began on 1 January 2015 as the successor to the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), which was completed on 28 Decem ...
, said the attack was a sign of the Taliban's weakness.
*
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...
: the
Security Council
The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international peace and security, recommending the admission of new UN members to the General Assembly, an ...
said that those involved should be brought to justice
Countries
*
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
: Prime Minister
Narendra Modi
Narendra Damodardas Modi (; born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician serving as the 14th and current Prime Minister of India since 2014. Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Parliament fro ...
tweeted that his condolences and that his prayers were with those affected by the attacks.
*
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...
:
Foreign Ministry In many countries, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the government department responsible for the state's diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral relations affairs as well as for providing support for a country's citizens who are abroad. The entit ...
statemented condemning the attack, they expressed condolences. In addition, they told they supported the Government of Afghanistan for the fight against terrorism.
*
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
:
White House
The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in ...
spokesman