Afghanistan: Two people, including a child, died when Taliban militants launched an assault on the Afghan parliament on Monday, triggering gunfire and explosions and sending lawmakers scurrying for cover in chaotic scenes relayed live on television.
The attack came as the Afghan president’s nominee for the crucial post of defence minister was to be introduced in parliament and ended two hours later when all seven attackers, including a suicide car bomber, were dead.
The Taliban swiftly claimed responsibility for the latest attack. The assault on such a high-profile target in downtown Kabul raises fresh questions about security as Afghan forces battle a resurgent Taliban for the first time without the aid of NATO forces, who ended their combat mission in December.
In a harrowing footage from Afghan television station Tolo News, the moment the explosion rocks the building can be clearly seen as unflinching speaker Abdul Rauf Ibrahimi addresses members of Parliament.
Ibrahimi remains surprisingly unaffected amid the panicked shrieks and dust clouds following the explosion, barely moving from his seat and telling people to not get scared. The lower house speaker attempted to continue his introduction of defense minister nominee Mohammad Masoom Stanekzai, even as his audience was rapidly evacuating.
A potential reason for Ibrahimi's unnatural calm may be that he didn't know it was a bombing, as NBC reported he announced in the moments after the explosion that an electrical fault was the cause.
Ibrahimi is a former mujahideen fighter-turned-politician, and as The Washington Post noted, his brother, father and nephew were all tragically killed in a suicide bombing at a sporting event in 2013.
“First a car bomb detonated on the main road near the parliament building, then a group of attackers entered a building in front of parliament,” Kabul police spokesman Ebadullah Karimi said.
Police said two civilians, a woman and a child, were killed in the attack, which left a thick plume of smoke hanging over the parliament complex and tore a huge crater in an adjoining street.
