Taliban attack on Afghan parliament widely condemned

Members of parliament are evacuated after an attack on the Afghan parliament building in Kabul, Afghanistan June 22, 2015[Photo/Agencies]

KABUL - The brazen attack against the Afghan parliament on Monday which claimed six lives and injured more than two dozen others has drawn wide condemnation.

In the horrific offensive for which Taliban outfit has claimed responsibility, six attackers were killed and 31 others, all civilians, sustained injuries.

"President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani condemned in the strongest possible terms the attack on the parliament building," a statement released by Arg, or the Presidential Palace, here said.

The president in the statement added that targeting innocent people in the holy month of Ramadan (Muslim fasting month) is a clear act of hostility against the religion of Islam and that the perpetrators are criminals who are bound by no creed or religion.

Joining the condemnation, the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) also strongly condemned Taliban's assault on the country's parliament on Monday.

"The attack against the Parliament, for which the Taliban have claimed responsibility, is a clear and deliberate affront to democracy in Afghanistan, an attack against the Afghan peoples' democratically elected representatives," Secretary-General's Deputy Special Representative for Afghanistan Tadamichi Yamamoto was quoted in the UNAMA statement as saying.

The horrific attack on the parliament began with a suicide car bomb at 10:20 a.m. local time and followed by gun shots during which windowpanes of the parliament building and nearby houses were smashed.

Kabul police chief Abdul Rahman Rahimi, in talks with media, confirmed that one of the attackers first detonated an explosive- laden car in front of the parliament building, killing himself and enabling five others to enter the parliament compound but the security personnel have blocked the way and shot them dead after a while.

Afghans from all walks of life, besides condemning the dreadful attack, have questioned "if the parliament of the country is not safe, how the ordinary citizen could live in peace?"

Although there is no statement from the interior and public health ministries on the casualties of the attack on the parliament, local media reported killing of five people including a child and of injuring 31 others, all civilians in the blatant offensive.

The attack on the parliament took place amid the Taliban advances in parts of the northern Kunduz province along the border with Tajikistan.

Taliban militants after fierce fighting overrun Chardara and Dasht-e-Archi districts in Kunduz province over the past three days.