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Roundup: 5 killed, 16 injured as militants target Kabul airport entrance

Xinhua, August 10, 2015 Adjust font size:

Five people have been confirmed dead and 16 others injured as anti-government militants organized a suicide car bomb near the entrance gate of Kabul International Airport on Monday, Afghan Interior Ministry said in a statement released here. "The Ministry of Interior Affairs condemns in the strongest terms the terrorist attack at the entrance gate of Hamid Karzai International Airport, Kabul which resulted in the deaths of five civilians and injuries of 16 others,"the statement said.

The deadly suicide attack which is the fourth of its kind since Friday morning had struck the front gate of the airport at noon time, interior ministry confirmed in the statement, adding such attacks also demonstrate the extreme level of atrocity committed by terrorists against innocent and defenseless civilians.

The obvious target of the attack was an armored vehicle running at the site, a security official said at the site of the blast but didn't say the vehicle belonged to whom.

He said all flights were delayed for at least four to five hours, the official added.

The powerful blast had also destroyed several cars and damaged houses nearby.

Meanwhile, Zabihullah Mujahid who claims to speak for the Taliban outfit in contact with media from unknown location claimed responsibility, insisting several security personnel had been killed in the blast, a claim rebuffed by officials and eyewitnesses as baseless.

However, President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani has pointed finger at Pakistan, saying terrorists sanctuaries are in Pakistan. "Pakistan is in a status of undeclared war with Afghanistan over the past 14 years,"President Ghani said, adding that"the training center of suicide attackers are in Pakistan, the undeclared war should come to end and this is the basic demand of Afghanistan."

Terming terrorism as the common enemy of the region and the world at large, president Ghani said that stable Afghanistan would benefit the region and the whole world.

Afghanistan has been the scene of increasing militancy since the death of Mullah and taking charge of Taliban outfit by Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansoor on July 30. Since then up to 50 people have been killed and hundreds others injured only in the capital city Kabul in terrorist attacks which were claimed by Taliban. Endi