Taliban Strikes Kabul City Again, Kills 15 Afghan Soldiers

On Saturday, a suicide bomber targeted a bus that was carrying Afghan Army trainees to their homes from Marshal Fahim military academy in the Afghan capital, Kabul city, according to Afghan sources.

Afghanistan Defense Ministry spokesman Dawlat Waziri told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that 15 trainees of the Afghan Army were killed in the attack. Afghan sources confirmed that Taliban was behind the deadly attack.

NATO´s Resolute Support mission in Afghanistan said on Twitter that the attack was against the future of the Afghan Army and the Afghan National Security Forces. The mission added that attack shows that the insurgents are desperate and cannot win against the Afghan National Security Forces on the battlefield .

Today’s attack in #Kabul against Marshall Fahim NDU is an attack on the future of #AFG and #ANDSF (1/2)

— Resolute Support (@ResoluteSupport) October 21, 2017

This attack in #Kabul shows the insurgents are desperate and cannot win against #ANDSF on the battlefield (2/2)

— Resolute Support (@ResoluteSupport) October 21, 2017

The attack is the second to hit Kabul city in the last 24 hours. On Friday, more than 50 civilians were killed in a suicide attack of ISIS on the Shiite Zaman Mosque in the city.

In a separated development, the Afghan Ministry of Interior announced in an official statement that 25 fighters of the so-called Haqqani network were killed, and 30 others were injured during a military operation of Afghan forces on Friday.

The operation took place in in Giyan district of Paktika province in southeastern Afghanistan, according to the official statement. The Ministry of Interior added that a large cache of weapons belonging to the network was destroyed during the operation.

The Haqqani network had been one of the US-backed Afghan armed groups since the 1980s. However, in 2012, the US finally recognized the group as a terrorist organization due to its relationships with al-Qaeda and the Taliban.

Afghan forces conduct similar military operations against al-Qaeda, the Taliban, the Haqqani network and ISIS on regular basis. However, these operations have not weaken significantly or even isolated the radical armed groups in Afghanistan so far.