Suicide bomber targets Afghan military training centre in Kabul

KABUL (AL-JAZEERA): A suicide bomber blew himself up at the entrance to a military training centre in the Afghan capital on Thursday, killing at least six people and wounding six, police and security officials said.

An official said on condition of anonymity the attacker detonated his explosives after being prevented from entering the Marshal Fahim National Defence University in Kabul.

Kabul police spokesman Firdaws Faramarz said the suicide bomber had been on foot.

The explosion occurred as cadets were leaving the college, which is one of Afghanistan’s main officer training academies.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack on the academy, which has been targeted in the past too.

Both the Taliban and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or ISIS) groups have staged large-scale attacks in the Afghan capital in the past.

Police and security forces in and around Kabul have come under frequent attacks in recent weeks even as the United States and the Taliban have held several rounds of peace talks.

The two sides have agreed on a “draft framework” that includes the withdrawal of US troops, a discussion on Taliban’s commitment that the Afghan territory would not be used by international “terror” groups.

Opened in 2005 and named after former Vice President Mohammed Fahim, the academy is modelled after the US and British war colleges and trains cadets destined to become officers in Afghanistan’s army.

A large annexe to the university is home to dozens of NATO troops who mentor the Afghan cadets.

The explosion was not believed to have affected operations at the centre, which lies behind multiple layers of tight security.