A spokesman for Hizb-e-Islami Afghanistan headed by Engineer Gulbuddin Hekmatyar has claimed responsibility for a deadly suicide attack in Kabul on Thursday, contradicting reports of civilian casualties.
“There were no civilian or Afghan nationals targeted in the suicide attack in the heart of Kabul,” the Peshawar-based spokesperson of HIA Hekmatyar told Pakistan Today. He said the target of the suicide attack was a convoy of NATO troops. “All killed and injured were foreigners,” he added.
Reports from Kabul, capital of Afghanistan, reveal that 15 people, including two American and four civilians, were killed in Thursday’s suicide attack in Kabul.
Recently, HIA chief Hekmatyar had not only denounced targeting civilians during resistance, but had even termed it haram (prohibited) per Islamic injunctions.
Hekmatyar and his group also denounced suicide attacks in Pakistan.
But his party spokesperson’s act of claiming responsibility for Thursday’s suicide attack was surprising.
It is the first ever suicide attack against the US-led allied troops in Kabul.
Since November 2001, the HIA is engaged in rare attacks against the US-led allied troops, but its leadership had never made claims or supported the suicide attacks.
