Suicide Bombing of U.S. Military Convoy in Kabul Kills 8 Afghans
By MUJIB MASHAL and FAHIM ABEDMAY 3, 2017
KABUL, Afghanistan — At least eight Afghan civilians were killed
and three American soldiers wounded on Wednesday when a suicide bomber attacked an American military convoy during the morning rush hour in Kabul, officials said.
In announcing Operation Mansouri, named after their former supreme leader, Mullah Akhtar Muhammad Mansour, who was killed in an American drone strike in Pakistan, the Taliban
vowed to take control of more territory through "conventional attacks, guerrilla warfare, complex martyrdom attacks, insider attacks" and the use of homemade bombs.
The group, largely made up of former members of the Pakistani
and Afghan Taliban, has carried out multiple deadly attacks in Kabul and continues to have a presence in eastern Afghanistan, where Afghan and American soldiers are currently carrying out an operation against them.
Compared with last year, that is a 2 percent decline in civilian deaths, but a 5 percent increase in injuries, the United Nations said last week.
But the Taliban still remain Afghanistan’s largest security concern,
and the attack comes amid fears of escalating violence as the resurgent group has begun another spring offensive.
The explosion happened around the corner from one of the entrances of the heavily guarded United States
Embassy at the center of the Afghan capital, as a convoy of American soldiers passed through.