ISIS terror attack on Afghan forces in Kabul: Scores dead, wounded

A complex suicide attack against Afghanistan’s premier military academy left 11 Afghan troops dead and numerous others wounded, in the latest spasm of violence to rock the country’s capital.

Gunmen and suicide bombers from the Islamic State, or ISIS, descended upon the Marshal Fahim National Defense University in western Kabul, attacking the security detail inside the academy before engaging with Afghan force inside.

Security forces killed two of the ISIS attackers, while two others detonated their suicide vests during the assault, The Associated Press reported. The remaining attacker was taken into custody by local security forces, said Defense Ministry spokesman Dawlat Waziri.

The rash of violence and uptick in insurgent activity in Kabul comes weeks after the Trump White House suspended millions in foreign aid and military assistance to Pakistan over its support for the Haqqani Network and other extremist militants in the region, accusing Islamabad of playing a double-game with the U.S. and its allies.

Monday’s attack was the third major insurgent strike against targets inside the Afghan capitol in the last two weeks. A Taliban suicide bomber drove an ambulance laden with explosives into a security checkpoint in central Kabul on Saturday, killing over 100 people and injuring over 300.

Over 22 people were killed during the attack, including 14 foreigners — a number of whom were U.S. citizens — during a 14-hour siege of the Hotel Intercontinental in the western part of the city last Saturday.

Violence broke out at the upscale hotel when six armed militants outfitted with suicide vests broke through the hotel’s heavily fortified security perimeter and began moving through the building, killing and wounding guests. Afghan security forces brought the siege to an end early Sunday morning, but not before the gunmen were able to kill a number of hotel patrons.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid claimed credit for the complex attack, the second of its kind targeting the Intercontinental in the last seven years. Afghan officials claim the attack was the work of the Pakistani-based Haqqani Network, which was responsible for the 2011 strike against the hotel.