Afghan Police Prevent Deadly Attack İn Kabul

At least one policeman was killed and three others injured as they prevented a suicide car bomber from entering Kabul on early Thursday morning, Afghan authorities said.



Afghan police and Criminal Investigation Department unit members were acting on tip-offs to go after the suicide bomber.



"Security forces chased a suspected suicide bomber, driving an explosive-laden corolla wagon, trying to enter a crowded part of the capital, Kabul. He detonated his explosives when he noticed he was under surveillance," Kabul police chief Abdul Rahman Rahimi told the Anadolu Agency.



He said that after receiving the information about the suicide bomber, Kabul police and intelligence service members increased the number of check posts on the routes to Kabul city.



"We deployed several groups of security forces on the eastern outskirts of Kabul to prevent the bomber from entering the city. He blew himself up when our forces stopped his car for searching," he added.



The Taliban, ousted from power by U.S.-backed Afghan forces in 2001, claimed credit for the attack on the outskirts of the capital city.



"A suicide bomber targeted Afghan and international forces when they were conducting a joint patrol in the Tarakhel area of Kabul. Several soldiers were killed and injured," Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said.



In a press conference on Wednesday, the Kabul police chief warned about terrorist attacks in the coming days after the Pakistani Taliban massacred more than 100 students in a school in the Pakistani city of Peshawar on Tuesday.



The heavily fortified capital Kabul has seen several attacks recently and Wednesday's attack was the 16th in the past month alone.



Afghan forces and civilian causalities peaked this year to the highest level since the Taliban was toppled in 2001.



Rahmatullah Nabil, Head of the National Directorate of Security, told parliamentarians on Wednesday that Afghan forces were monitoring only four out of 26 entrances to Kabul. The rest of the entrances are at risk of infiltration by terrorist groups.



"There are 107 terrorist centers surrounding Kabul which can easily conduct deadly attacks on the city," Nabil said.



He continued by telling the government that he urgently needed air forces to support the forces on the ground.



Taliban militants have intensified their activities after the Afghan government signed a controversial bilateral security agreement with United States and NATO, which allows foreign forces to remain in Afghanistan beyond 2014.



A remnant of about 12,500 NATO and U.S. troops will remain in Afghanistan in 2015, down from a peak of 130,000.



www.aa.com.tr/en - Kabil