Suicide bombers, gunmen attack Kabul police stations

KABUL AFP May9, 2018- Suicide bombers and gunmen launched apparently coordinated attacks on two Kabul police stations Wednesday, killing at least five people, with security forces still searching for several assailants as the city braces for more violence.   

A series of loud explosions rocked the Afghan capital in the late morning and were quickly followed by volleys of gunfire as police engaged in fierce battles with militants.   

The Taliban and Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attacks. But Afghanistan’s intelligence agency blamed the Taliban’s Haqqani Network and Pakistani militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba for both incidents.   

At least five people were killed and 16 wounded in the attacks, health ministry spokesman Waheed Majroh told reporters.   

Two police officers were also killed, the interior ministry said, but it was not immediately clear if they were included in the health ministry’s toll.   

After an easing of attacks in Kabul in February, Taliban and IS militants have stepped up raids in the city in recent months.   

IS claimed the first attack on a police station in a heavily Shiite-populated neighbourhood in the city’s west, which police spokesman Hashmatullah Estanakzai told AFP had ended.