In a rare break among Islamic terrorist groups and countries that support them, the Pakistani Taliban has been roundly denounced for their attack on a school that left 132 children dead.
The Pakistani Taliban has been attempting to justify their attack by saying that the assault was revenge against the army for an offensive against the terrorist organization. The terrorists said their families had suffered losses, so it was right to kill the children of army members.
The spokesman for the Afghanistan branch of the Taliban condemned the attack as being against the basics of Islam.
“The intentional killing of innocent people, children and women is against the basics of Islam and this criteria has to be considered by every Islamic party and government,” Zabihullah Mujahid said in a statement, according to Reuters.
The Iranian government also released a statement strongly condemning the terrorist action.
“This is a totally un-Islamic and inhumane act. Terrorism, extremism and endangering the lives of innocent people, in any form and with any objective, is condemned,” Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham told reporters.
Pakistan’s prime minister Nawaz Sharif says the government had tried to negotiate with the terror group but the talks broke down, leading to a military offensive against the group.
A homicide bomber walked into an auditorium in Kabul, Afghanistan and set off his device killing a German man and wounding 16 people.
The crowd was watching a play that condemned terrorist homicide bombing attacks called “Heartbeat: Silence After the Explosion.” The head of the Interior Ministry said a 17-year-old boy walked into the play during an early evening performance to commit the attack.
“I heard a deafening explosion … There were Afghans, foreigners, young girls and young boys watching the show,” Sher Ahmad, an Afghan rights activist who was at the performance, told Reuters.
The Taliban said that they attacked the play because it was aimed “to insult Islamic values and spread propaganda about our jihad operations, especially on suicide attacks”.
The attack is the second homicide bombing terrorist attack in Kabul within a week. Six Afghani soldiers were killed when a terrorist hit their bus as they were heading to work.
The attacks are part of a nationwide campaign by the Taliban to strike at military and civilians, as most of the foreign military units would be leaving the country by the end of the month.
Afghanistan officials say that the death toll in the Friday landslides has topped 2,100 and could climb even higher.
Government officials say that the most tragic part of the entire event happened in the second landslide. A government spokesman said that 600 people who showed up to help those trapped in the first landslide died when they were buried in a second landslide.
Rescuers say that the area is still very unstable and that rescue workers and residents still in the area are at risk for another landslide. However, families have been saved from the landslide.
“Around 700 families were rescued,” Afghan National Disaster Management Authority spokesman Sayed Abdullah Homayun Dehqan said while adding that they are still short of the necessary supplies to expand rescues.
NATO’s Regional Command is organizing troops to help with the rescue efforts.
At least 350 people are dead after a landslide buried an entire village in northeast Afghanistan.
United Nations officials say that at least 300 homes were completely buried and over 2,000 people are missing in the landslide. They anticipate the death toll to rise significantly in the next week.
Badakhshan province Governor Waliullah Adeeb said that days of heavy rain were the cause of the slide. He said that rescuers know there are survivors under the slide but they are unable to reach them because they don’t have enough equipment or machinery.
They’ve begged people around the country to at least send shovels for rescuers to dig manually for people they believe are still alive.
The area is in a part of the heavily rugged mountains of Afghanistan where they are subjected to avalanches on a regular basis rather than landslides.
The Taliban continues their campaign against women and children after four gunmen shot and killed at least two children in their latest terror attack.
Four members of the Islamic terrorist group walked into a restaurant at a hotel in Kabul, Afghanistan, pulled out pistols and began shooting diners in the head. Women and children appeared to be especially targeted by the terrorists.
Security officials were stunned the terrorists made their way into the Serena hotel, which is known for having some of the strongest security in Kabul. They discovered after searching the bodies of the terrorists that they had concealed the weapons inside their shoes.
The attack is part of a stepped up terror campaign ahead of April 5th elections in Afghanistan.
“Our people, if they decide to attack any place, can do it,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a statement claiming responsibility for the murders.
There may finally be an explanation why Afghani President Hamid Karzai has rejected all the recommendations from government officials to sign a new security deal with the United States and why he’s turned very anti-American in the last six months.
The New York Times reports that Karzai has been conducting secret talks with the Taliban to try and arrange a deal before he leaves office later this year.
Karzai has been refusing to sign a deal approved by tribal leaders that would leave some U.S. troops in the country past the end of 2014. The troops would provide training to the Afghan army and help in counterterrorism efforts.
It’s likely those counterterrorism efforts are what Karzai wants to stop.
Karzai has reportedly been secretly working with the Taliban since November. A spokesman for the president said that the talks are “very positive” and ongoing.
Karzai recently raised suspicious eyes from world leaders and observers after attempting to claim terrorist attacks by the Taliban were actually the work of the United States even after the Taliban claimed responsibility.
The Pakistan government could release Senior Taliban leader Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar in an attempt to help the Afghanistan peace process.
Baradar was arrested in Karachi in 2010 after a mission called a major win for the American CIA and Pakistani Intelligence Service. Continue reading →
A U.S. military base in eastern Afghanistan has been attacked by Taliban terrorists resulting in the deaths of at least three terrorists.
The attack on Torkham base came after the terrorists attacked and burned NATO supply trucks creating a flaming barricade for anyone attempting to reach the base. Continue reading →
The Taliban continues to assert their terroristic power in Afghanistan ahead of NATO’s 2014 withdrawal from the country. Local officials say the group has executed 12 civilians in their latest round of violence. Continue reading →
Flash flooding in Afghanistan’s Kabul province has killed 22 people according to local officials.
A weekend of heavy rain caused flooding that swamped a village in the Shakardara district. The area had been a center of activity because of the vineyards and apple orchards where families would celebrate the Muslim Eid al-Fitr holiday. Continue reading →
