11 soldiers killed as militants attack army post near Kabul military academy

11 soldiers killed as militants attack army post near Kabul military academy

KABUL: Gunmen attacked an army outpost near one of Afghanistan’s main military academies on Monday, killing 11 soldiers and injuring 16 before being subdued, the defence ministry said.

Daesh claimed responsibility for the attack near the Marshal Fahim military academy in the western outskirts of the capital, Kabul, according to the militant group’s Amaq news agency.

It came two days after an ambulance bomb in the center of the city killed more than 100 people and just over a week after another attack on the Hotel Intercontinental, also in Kabul, killed more than 20.

Both of those attacks were claimed by the Taliban.

Ministry of Defence officials said the five militants armed with rocket-propelled grenades and automatic rifles attacked the outpost near the well-defended academy just before dawn.

Two of the attackers blew themselves up, two were killed in fighting and one was captured, the ministry said in a statement announcing that the fighting was over. Eleven soldiers were killed and 16 wounded, it said.

“The Afghan National Army is the country’s defence force and makes sacrifices for the security and well-being of the people,” the ministry said.

While militants claiming allegiance to Daesh operate in mountains in the eastern province of Nangarhar, little is known about the group and many analysts question whether they are solely responsible for the attacks they have claimed in Kabul and elsewhere.

The attack came as the president of Indonesia, Joko Widodo, was due to visit Kabul.

Indonesia has the world’s biggest Muslim population and Widodo has proposed that Indonesian Islamic scholars could help promote Afghan peace, media reported recently.