Taliban suicide attack kills 5 Afghan civilians; condemns maternity clinic attack – By Tameem Akhgar, Kathy Gannon (The Associated Press) / May 14 2020
KABUL, Afghanistan — A suicide bombing in Afghanistan’s eastern Paktia province on Thursday that looked to target a military compound but exploded before its destination killed five civilians and wounded at least 29 others, including civilians and military personnel, Afghan officials said.
The Taliban took responsibility for the bombing, calling it retaliation for statements by President Ashraf Ghani blaming it for an attack earlier this week against a maternity hospital that killed 24 people, including two newborns as well as several mothers and nurses.
The Taliban were quick to deny responsibility and condemn that attack on Tuesday. The U.S. special peace envoy, Zalmay Khalilzad, also noted the Taliban’s denial and urged the Afghan government and the Taliban to work together to battle the scourge of terrorism, specifically from the Islamic state affiliate operating in Afghanistan.
The Taliban and Islamic State extremists are rivals. Afghan and American officials say the Islamic State affiliate in Afghanistan has been weakened in recent months as a result of U.S. bombing raids in the group’s stronghold, as well as military operations by Afghan security forces and attacks by Taliban insurgents.
ISIS has not taken responsibility for the maternity ward attack but the hospital is located in the Shiite dominated Dasht-e-Barschi area of the Afghan capital where the ISIS has carried out several bloody attacks including one in 2018 killing dozens of young students taking university entrance exams.
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