Taliban kill at least 48 in bloody day ahead of Afghan polls – World

Taliban suicide bombers killed at least 48 people and wounded dozens more in two explosions on Tuesday, one in a campaign rally for the president and the other in Kabul, with insurgents warning of more violence before the elections.

The first attack saw a motorcyclist detonate a suicide bomb at a checkpoint that led to a concentration where President Ashraf Ghani was addressing supporters in the central province of Parwan, just north of the capital, killing 26 and wounding to 42.

Just over an hour later, another explosion also claimed by the Taliban shook the center of Kabul near the US embassy. Authorities initially gave no figures of victims, but then said 22 people had died and 38 others had been injured.

The explosions came after the president of the United States, Donald Trump, abruptly ended talks with the Taliban earlier this month on an agreement that would have allowed the US. UU. Start withdrawing troops from their longest war.

In a statement sent to the media that claimed responsibility for both explosions, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the attack near the Ghani rally was deliberately aimed at interrupting the September 28 elections.

"We have already warned people who do not attend the electoral demonstrations, if they suffer any loss that is their responsibility," the statement said.

A AFP The image of the scene near the Ghani rally, about an hour's drive north of Kabul, showed the remains of a burned motorcycle, with a body on top, covered by a blanket and next to a police car very damaged

Women and children were among the causes, said Parwan hospital director Abdul Qasim Sangin. AFP.

The president, who was talking to his followers at the time of the explosion, was unharmed, but then condemned the attack and said the incident showed that the Taliban had no real interest in reconciliation.

"As the Taliban continue their crimes, they once again prove that they are not interested in peace and stability in Afghanistan," Ghani said in a statement.

Talks & # 39; dead & # 39;

Sixty kilometers away, in Kabul, a merchant, Rahimullah, said he had been sitting inside his tent when the second explosion arrived.

"The wave broke all the windows," he said AFP.

“I ran out and saw several bodies across the street. This is the second time in less than a month that an explosion has broken our windows. I just fixed them a week ago. ” The UN mission in Afghanistan also criticized the Taliban, accusing them of showing "contemptible contempt for civil life and the fundamental human right to participate in the democratic process."

In the elections, Ghani will face his own executive president, Abdullah Abdullah, and more than a dozen other candidates, including former warlords, former spies and former members of the country's former communist regime.

For weeks, the elections were marginalized by the talks between the United States and the Taliban, and many Afghans and observers were waiting for the vote to be canceled if an agreement was reached. Even the candidates did little in the campaign.

But with the agreement closed, Ghani and his rivals started the race.

Ghani is looking for a clear mandate that they can use to negotiate with the insurgents on a lasting peace in Afghanistan.

Trump's statement that talks between the United States and the Taliban were "dead" encouraged the insurgents to declare last week that the only other option was more fighting.

"We had two ways of ending the occupation in Afghanistan, one was jihad and fighting, the other was conversations and negotiations," Mujahid said. AFP last week.

"If Trump wants to stop the talks, we will take the first path and they will soon regret it."

The observers had warned the Taliban, who hope to weaken the future president, who will do everything possible to reverse the elections.

On the first day of the campaign in July, suicide bombers and armed men attacked the Kabul office of Ghani's formula partner Amrullah Saleh. At least 20 people died in those attacks.

Participation in the elections will be low, and experts cite the fear of violence and loss of hope among voters following widespread fraud allegations during the 2014 elections.

A BBC The investigation published on Monday claimed that 74 people were killed every day on average in August, with 611 incidents that resulted in 2,307 deaths.