KABUL: The Taliban warned Wednesday of more attacks targeting Afghan government leaders, a day after the defence minister escaped an assassination attempt and as the insurgents fought to take control of a string of besieged cities across the country.
A bomb-and-gun attack on Defence Minister Bismillah Mohammadi Tuesday night brought the war to the capital for the first time in months.
But fighting has raged in the countryside since May, when foreign forces began the last stage of a withdrawal due to end later this month. The Afghan and US militaries have stepped up air strikes against the insurgents, and the Taliban said Wednesday the Kabul raid was their response.
Taliban claim attack on Afghanistan minister's compound
“The attack is the beginning of the retaliatory operations against the circles and leaders of the Kabul administration who are ordering attacks and the bombing of different parts of the country,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a statement on social media.
It represents a major escalation by the Taliban, who have largely refrained from large-scale attacks in the capital since starting talks with the US on their troop withdrawal.
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