Two sets of bombers target aid organisation and governor in Panjshir valley – a traditional anti-Taliban stronghold
Two squads of suicide attackers stormed the unprotected compound of the International Committee of the Red Cross in eastern Afghanistanon Wednesday and stole into the heavily guarded northern Panjshir valley on a grim day for a country adjusting to the rapid departure of Nato forces.
The ICRC shuns armed guards employed by many foreign organisations in Afghanistan, relying instead on goodwill generated by its work providing healthcare to the very neediest, and protecting prisoners including Taliban detainees.
But the attack on the Jalalabad office, the largest in the restive east of Afghanistan, comes little more than a month after the killing of two Afghan Red Crescent workers, and amid rising insecurity.
In a worrying sign for humanitarian organisations working in Afghanistan it also followed just a few days after a complex attack on the headquarters of a UN-linked organisation that helps thousands of refugees.The day began with violence when a squad of six suicide bombers attacked the home and offices of the governor of Panjshir province. A policeman was killed in the gun battle that followed, and it was a worrying show of insurgent reach because the valley is a natural fortress and its people fiercely anti-Taliban.
Hours later, more powerful blasts rocked eastern Jalalabad. Around 6pm local time, a bomber detonated his explosives at the entrance to the compound, killing the unarmed guard, and up to three other attackers rushed into the grounds.
All Afghan employees apart from the guard had gone home, officials said, and six foreign workers were evacuated by police, one with slight injuries. "One of the suicide bombers blew himself up in front of the gate, and others ran inside," said Sediq Sediqqi, spokesman for the ministry of interior. Three hours later the battle was over, but it was unclear who had ordered the attack or why.
The Taliban could not be reached for comment, but their relations with the ICRC have always been good.
The aid group's commitment to neutrality means they work with all the factions fighting in Afghanistan, and last year the insurgents praised the organisation for "valuable services … in reducing the suffering of Afghans".
"The compound has been attacked by some armed people, we don't know who they are really, we are trying to find out," said Red Cross spokesman Robin Waudo.
Despite previous attacks on its staff, this is the first time ICRC offices have been targeted by suicide bombers since it began operating in Afghanistan in 1987, and the attack suggests either a shift in strategy or a fragmentation of the insurgency that the group's Afghanistan director warned about after the April killings.
"What we observe in some areas of the country is a proliferation and fragmentation of armed actors," Gherardo Pontrandolfi told journalists. "To have safe access to certain parts of the country we have to multiply contacts at all levels with different armed groups, different command structures. It's not getting any easier."
The ICRC's 60m-a-year operations in Afghanistan are the group's biggest in the world, according to Reuters. Some 1,800 staff work on projects ranging from providing orthopaedic limbs to the war wounded to visiting militants in Afghan jails.
Additional reporting by Mokhtar Amiri