A car bomb attack claimed by the Taliban near a compound used by Afghanistan’s intelligence agency in Qalat, the capital of Zabul province in southern Afghanistan, left at least 15 dead and more than 90 wounded Thursday morning.A spokesman for provincial government, Gul Islam Seyal, said most of the victims, which included women and children, were patients at a nearby hospital.Provincial officials say Zabul Hospital, which was near the National Directorate of Security compound, was almost completely destroyed in this attack.Civilians have faced the brunt of the violence in Afghanistan, with casualties recorded by the United Nations at a record high last year. During the first six months of 2019, the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan reported 1,366 civilians killed and 2,446 wounded.Earlier attacksThis attack follows other large Taliban attacks this week, including an attack Wednesday on a national identity card center in Jalalabad in eastern Afghanistan, and two attacks Tuesday that killed almost 50 people. One of those attacks was on President Ashraf Ghani’s election rally in Parwan.Meanwhile, officials in Nangarhar, in eastern Afghanistan, claim a drone attack Wednesday night killed at least nine civilians on their way to a local pine forest.Shamsullah Safi, the district chief of Khogyani district, said all the passengers in the vehicle were civilian.Ajmal Omar, a member of Nangarhar provincial council, feared the death toll in the attack could rise as locals were still looking through the rubble.Ataullah Khogyani, a spokesman for the governor confirmed the attack but said it was unclear that the victims were civilian.NATO and U.S. officials have not yet responded to the allegation.
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