A Taliban suicide assault team penetrated security at the governor’s compound in Bazarak in Panjshir province in the early morning today. From Xinhua:
“Six militants armed with suicide vests and weapons stormed the provincial governor compound at around 3 a.m. local time in Bazarak city. The attack and counter-attack claimed the lives of all attackers and one policeman,” the provincial government spokesman Rohullah Yousufi told Xinhua.
Three attackers detonated their explosive jackets and three others were shot dead by police cops, the spokesman said.
The compound caught fire in the incident and several other building nearby were damaged, he said. The security forces also defused one car bomb at the scene as the militants failed to explode it.
Four policemen were wounded as a result of the attack, the spokesman noted, adding an investigation was launched into the incident.
According to AFP, the suicide assault team was wearing police uniforms when it attacked.
The Taliban took credit for today’s attack in Panjshir in a statement released on Voice of Jihad, its propaganda website. The Taliban claimed that “50 NATO-puppet troops” were killed, and named the members of the assault team:
The martyr operation ended at 8:30 after the last Mujahid of the unit of the six including Zia-ud-Din, Ahmad, Ammar, Muhammad Afzal, Muhammad Yasin and Syed Kamil embraced martyrdom.
While the attack wasn’t effective from a military standpoint (one policeman killed versus six suicide bombers), the propaganda effects are enormous. The Taliban and their allies are continuing to show the Afghan people that the group is capable of conducting strikes in all corners of Afghanistan.
Panjshir province is the most secure in Afghanistan; attacks there are a rarity. The jihadist alliance in Afghanistan has conducted just one suicide attack in Panjshir since the war began in 2001. That attack took place in October 2011, when another suicide assault team hit the US-run Provincial Reconstruction Team headquarters in the Rakha district. That attack was claimed by the al Qaeda and Taliban-linked Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, which released a video documenting the attack.
The province is the home of Ahmad Shah Massoud, the famed Northern Alliance commander who was assassinated in a suicide attack in Takhar province just two days prior to the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. Under Massoud’s leadership the Panjshir Valley held out against both the Soviets and the Taliban.
Are you a dedicated reader of FDD's Long War Journal? Has our research benefitted you or your team over the years? Support our independent reporting and analysis today by considering a one-time or monthly donation. Thanks for reading! You can make a tax-deductible donation here.
4 Comments
“…the propaganda effects are enormous. The Taliban and their allies are continuing to show the Afghan people that the group is capable of conducting strikes in all corners of Afghanistan.”
With due respect I beg to differ. IMO ‘these’ actions on the part of the Taliban serve only to strengthen the Afghans resolve & ratchet up ‘their’ commitment to defend their country.
It must be plain by now that the ISI/Taliban is working down a ‘punch list’ — a ‘dead pool’ — a hit list — that has them going after the Afghan national and regional leadership regardless of difficulty.
The endless sequence of false-flag/ uniform fraud attacks must alert the Afghans that the highest suspicion must exist for ‘uniformed troops.’
Sign and counter-sign is now obligatory — as there is no rear area in this conflict — unless you’re an ISI agent.
mike, who are the afghans though? The pashtuns are one with the taliban, and that is the story that never gets touched upon. The idea of a pashtunistan.
The other groups understandable due to historical and present grievances hate the pastuns and readily join NATO now.
So again, who is an afghan? It’s largely a non-existant thing it came about with the Durrani empire which was the largest Islamic state next to the turks during its peak.
That state was decimated by the Sikhs which is why you have pakistani ‘tribal’ (pashtun) areas in the first place.
I don’t think NATO understands how to fight a people who have known fighting, longer than Europeans have known history. I suggest they study Jean-François Allard, Jean-Baptiste Ventura and Hari Singh Nalwa.
The latter, being a man whom the british said would conquer Asia and Europe given artillery.
VJKVJF||
“…who are the afghans though?”A convenient little ‘fantasy’ propagated by those seeking to undermine or deflect from the majority of Afghans who are committed to rebuilding & defending their Nation. The fact that you ‘need’ to ‘pose’ this question illustrate’s a bias of one unable to admit or come to terms with a reality that has over time demonstrated otherwise.
By the way who are the ‘Pakistanis?’ Punjabis, Sindi Pashtuns, Saraikis, Muhajirs, Balochis, etc.,? Who are the Indonesians? Javanese, Malay, Sundanese, Madurese, etc.,? Who are the Singaporeans? Chinese, Malays, Indians, Eurasians.,? Who are the Syrians? Arabs, Kurds, Assyrians/Syriacs, Armenians, Circassians, etc.,? Who are the Iraqi’s?
Arabs, Kurds, Turkmen, Persians, etc.,? What of the country composition of any Nation in the Western hemisphere?
“The pashtuns are one with the taliban, and that is the story that never gets touched upon.”
‘Whats’ irresponsibly not “touched upon” is that the ‘Force Composition’ of The Taliban has for quite some time been an ‘amalgamation’ of personnel of whom the majority are neither Afghan nor many of whom are neither Pashtun. Even during their heyday(late 90’s to mid/late 2001) Taliban ‘manpower’ at any given moment was 20% to 30%, if not more, Foreigner.
The Durrani Empire was an illusion promoted by the British to support their pursuit of Realpolitik as they sought to organize the ‘regions’ geo-political environment to be the ‘accepted’ prevailing world view through a ‘prism’ of their construct. I suggest you read ‘The “Ancient Supremacy”: Bukhara, Afghanistan and the Battle for Balkh, 1731-1901’ by Jonathan L Lee.
“That state was decimated by the Sikhs…,” “I don’t think NATO understands how to fight a people who have known fighting, longer than Europeans have known history.” Typical prejudiced view that’s become “Standard Fare” by just about anybody who ignores ‘all’ that’s come before or after ‘it’ to satisfy an opinion or view that’s unsupportable unless ‘periods’ of history are simply ignored, denied or ‘whitewashed.’ You’ve obviously have never heard of The Ice Age, The Greeks, Romans etc.,.
So what! Nalwa managed to occupy present day Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, FATA, Kashmir & neighboring locales. That’s more of a reflection of Pathan incompetence & mismanagement than any ‘prowess’ on the part Nalwa.
“The latter, being a man whom the british said would conquer Asia and Europe given artillery.” Yeah & if Hitler & the NAZI’s had a couple of Aircraft Carriers they would have controlled/dominated The Atlantic.
With all due respect in the future please do not waste my time with your information deficient parochially skewed view of whats taking place in the AfPak theater nor your vacuous take on the historiographical ‘appreciation’ of the ‘region.’