KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN // A Taliban truck bomb targeting senior provincial officials killed at least seven civilians and wounded around 40 in southern Afghanistan on Wednesday.
A suicide bomber detonated a car full of explosives at the back wall of the Helmand governor’s compound and the adjacent residence of the head of the provincial council, provincial police chief Nabi Jan Mullahkheil said.
The complex houses the governor, the head of the provincial council and the deputy provincial police chief in Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand province, a senior local official said.
Governor Mohammad Nahim Balouch was not at the compound at the time of the attack.
All three officials survived but “seven civilian were killed and 41 were wounded in the attack”, said deputy provincial governor Mohammad Jan Rasolyar.
“The attack was targeted at a gathering of senior government officials, civil society members and journalists in a hall for a seminar on human trafficking and kidnapping,” he said.
The Taliban, who frequently target Afghan government officials and security forces, claimed responsibility for the attack through their official Twitter account.
It was the second major attack in the Lashkar Gah area this month after seven people were killed and more than 20 wounded in a suicide bombing at a checkpoint on March 10.
The wounded, including provincial government spokesman Omar Zhwak who was in his office when the blast occurred, were taken to hospital.
Other wounded government officials included the district governor of Nad Ali, and the provincial agriculture and media directors, said Lashkar Gah director of public health Nimatullah Ghafari.
The interior ministry confirmed the attack and a senior police officer said that buildings in the complex were damaged.
Afghanistan’s military launched Operation Zulfiqar against Taliban fighters in Helmand province in mid-February, in what was seen as a key test of their ability to curtail the insurgency following the end of US-led Nato combat mission in late December.
On Monday, the military claimed the killing of militant commander Hafiz Waheed, who led a faction the Afghan government claims is linked to the ISIL group. The ISIL extremist group has never acknowledged having affiliates in Afghanistan.
A day earlier, the government said Afghan forces killed 10 insurgents in Helmand who had claimed to be fighting with ISIL, including one militant who officials said was the de-facto leader of the IS group in the province.
A residual force of about 12,000 international troops have remained to help train Afghanistan’s security forces, but a rising tide of violence has led US and Afghan leaders to revise their plans over further planned withdrawals.
The number of civilians killed and wounded in Afghanistan jumped 22 per cent in 2014, the UN said last month, as Nato troops withdrew from combat.
The United States was due to reduce its 10,000 troops to 5,500 by December, but that number is expected to be revisited soon, according to US officials.
There have been growing hopes for talks between Kabul and the Taliban aimed at moving towards reconciliation after more than a decade of war, involving both the US and Afghanistan’s neighbour Pakistan.
Afghanistan’s chief executive Abdullah Abdullah said last month that peace talks with the Taliban could begin within days, though the militants swiftly dismissed the idea.
* Agence France-Presse, Reuters and Associated Press