At least nine people are dead and dozens more injured after the Taliban blew up a stolen Humvee at a government base.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack on Monday, which comes after Afghan President Ashraf Ghani announced that security forces would be switched “from an active defense mode to an offensive one” following increased violence in the country.
The bombing occurred at a base in the Ghazni province, with the explosion being so powerful it shattered windows more than a mile away, Wahidullah Jumazada, a spokesman for the provincial governor said, according to Stars and Stripes. The base that was targeted is used by Afghanistan’s intelligence agency.
Separately, two people were killed in Kabul when an improvised explosive device that was affixed to a vehicle exploded. There was also an assassination attempt against an Afghan defense official in the country’s capital on Saturday.
The attack comes a day after a power-sharing deal between Ghani and opposition leader Abdullah Abdullah was solidified. Both had previously claimed they won last year’s controversial Afghan election, which took months to be decided.
The Taliban said Monday’s attack was in response to Ghani’s “war declaration” against the militant group. Ghani announced the offensive after gunmen attacked a maternity ward in Kabul last week and killed two dozen, including babies.
No group has claimed responsibility for the maternity ward attack, but the United States believes that the Islamic State’s Khorasan Province branch is the likely culprit. The Afghan government has pushed back on that assertion and said evidence points to Taliban involvement.
