Editor in Chief: Moh. Reza Huwaida Friday, March 29th, 2024

Targeted Attacks Continue to Take Toll in December in Afghanistan

Targeted Attacks Continue to Take Toll in December in  Afghanistan

KABUL - At least 60 people were killed and many others wounded in targeted attacks across Afghanistan in December, according to official figures kept by Xinhua.
On Thursday, Hajji Bahramudin, a driver of Administrative Office of country's Presidential Palace, was killed and his boss Mohammad Jawid Wali was critically wounded after their vehicle was struck by an improvised bomb in Police District (PD) 7 of national capital Kabul.
On Wednesday, a pilot of Afghan Air Force, Ahmad Massoud Attal, was shot and killed by gunmen in southern Kandahar province. The gunmen escaped after the shooting.
The increased targeted attacks in recent months have caused concern among the ordinary people, particularly government employees and members of security forces.
On Monday, a teacher was assassinated in eastern Parwan province. On the same day, in eastern Ghazni province, gunmen killed two provincial revenue directorate workers in PD 2 of provincial capital Ghazni city.
Two militants armed with guns were arrested after being shot and wounded by police when they tried to target a prosecutor in PD 21 of Kabul over the weekend. The police also confiscated a motorcycle and weapons of the assailants.
On Dec. 24, Fareshta Kohistani, a women rights activist, and her younger brother were killed by two terrorists on a motorbike in eastern Kapisa province, hometown of Kohistani.
On the same day, Mohammad Yousaf Rashid, Executive Director of Free and Fair Election Foundation of Afghanistan (FEFA), a national independent election watch agency, and his driver were killed by gunmen in Chihilstoon, an area in PD 7 of Kabul.
On Dec. 23, Colonel Janat Gul, a teacher of a national defense university, lost his life after gunmen spread bullets on him in PD 12 of Kabul.
A civilian and four employees of the country's main prison, including two female doctors, were killed and two civilians were wounded in an improvised bomb explosion in PD 7 of Kabul on Dec. 22.
On the same day, a freelance journalist and chairman of Provincial Journalists Association Ramatullah Nikzad, was shot by an assailant holding a silenced pistol near his house in Ghazni city.
Abdul Rahman Hatshan, a deputy to the provincial council, was killed and his colleague Abdul Rahimd Rizazada and his son were wounded when a bomb attached to the vehicle they were driving exploded in Firoz Koah, capital of western Ghor province on Dec. 15.
On the same day, Mahbubullah Muhibi, a deputy to the provincial governor of Kabul and his office assistant, were killed and two people were wounded in a bomb explosion, hitting an official vehicle in Kabul.
On Dec. 12, Naweed Ahmad, head of the criminal investigation department of Chahar Asyab, a district on southern outskirts of Kabul, was killed and three police officers wounded when militants attacked their vehicle by guns.
On the same day, special operations police forces arrested two Taliban militants responsible for bomb attacks and targeted killings in Chahar Asyab.
On Dec. 10, gunmen shot dead a female journalist Malalai Miwand and her driver in Jalalabad city, capital of eastern Nangarhar province.
A judge of Afghan Supreme Court has been assassinated in Kabul on Dec. 4. Abdul Jamil was shot dead after Friday prayers outside a mosque in Rahman Mina neighborhood PD 8 of capital.
In general, over 35 victims were killed in separate targetted attacks in Kabul, Kandahar, Kapisa, Parwan, Ghazni, Ghor and Nangarhar provinces last month.
No groups or individuals have claimed responsibility for nearly all of the targeted attacks in December. However, Afghan officials accused the Taliban militant group for the attacks.
On Tuesday, Afghan Interior Minister Massoud Andarabi told Mushrano Jirga or the Upper House of national parliament that the Taliban "turned their attention to targeted killings of individuals" to put pressure on the Afghan government.
The Taliban militants, according to Ahmad Zia Siraj, head of the National Directorate of Security (NDS), the country's counter-intelligence agency, were responsible for 99 percent of the 18,200 small and large-scale attacks in Afghanistan in 2020.
About 44 people lost their lives and many others were wounded in targeted attacks across Afghanistan in November, according to official figures. (Xinhua)