US airstrike hits suicide bomber targeting airport: Report
Kabul, Aug 29: The Taliban said that a US airstrike targeted a suicide bomber in a vehicle Sunday who wanted to attack the Kabul international airport amid the American military's evacuation there.
There were few initial details about the incident, as well as a rocket that struck a neighbourhood just northwest of the airport, killing a child. The two strikes initially appeared to be separate incidents, though information on both remained scarce.
The attack comes as the United States winds down a historic airlift that saw tens of thousands evacuated from Kabul's international airport, the scene of much of the chaos that engulfed the Afghan capital since the Taliban took over two weeks ago.
After an Islamic State affiliate's suicide attack that killed over 180 people, the Taliban increased its security around the airfield as Britain ended its evacuation flights Saturday.
US military cargo planes continued their runs into the airport Sunday, ahead of a Tuesday deadline earlier set by President Joe Biden to withdraw all troops from America's longest war.
However, Afghans remaining behind in the country worry about the Taliban reverting to their earlier oppressive rule something fueled by the recent shooting death of a folk singer in the country by the insurgents.
Zabihullah Mujahid said in a message to journalists that the strike targeted the bomber as he drove a vehicle loaded with explosives. Mujahid offered few other details.
US military officials could not be immediately reached for comment.
The rocket attack meanwhile struck Kabul's Khuwja Bughra neighbourhood, said Rashid, the Kabul police chief who goes by one name. Video obtained by The Associated Press in the aftermath of the attack showed smoke rising from building at the site around a kilometer (half a mile) from the airport.
No group immediately claimed the attack, however militants have fired rockets in the past.
Meanwhile, the family of a folk singer north of Kabul say the Taliban killed him.
The shooting of Fawad Andarabi came in the Andarabi Valley for which he was named, an area of Baghlan province some 100 kilometers (60 miles) north of Kabul. The valley had seen upheaval since the Taliban takeover, with some districts in the area coming under the control of militia fighters opposed to the Taliban rule.
The Taliban say they have since retaken those areas, though neighbouring Panjshir in the Hindu Kush mountains remains the only one of Afghanistan's 34 provinces not under its control.
The Taliban previously came out to Andarabi's home and searched it, even drinking tea with the musician, his son Jawad Andarabi told the AP. But something changed Friday.
He was innocent, a singer who only was entertaining people, his son said. They shot him in the head on the farm. His son said he wanted justice and that a local Taliban council promised to punish his father's killer.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told the AP that the insurgents would investigate the incident, but had no other details on the killing.
Andarabi played the ghichak, a bowed lute, and sang traditional songs about his birthplace, his people and Afghanistan as a whole. A video online showed him at one performance, sitting on a rug with the mountains of home surrounding him as he sang.
There is no country in the world like my homeland, a proud nation, he sang. Our beautiful valley, our great-grandparents' homeland."
Karima Bennoune, the United Nations special rapporteur on cultural rights, wrote on Twitter that she had grave concern over Andarabi's killing.
We call on governments to demand the Taliban respect the #humanrights of #artists, she wrote.
Agnes Callamard, the secretary-general of Amnesty International, similarly decried the killing.
There is mounting evidence that the Taliban of 2021 is the same as the intolerant, violent, repressive Taliban of 2001," she wrote on Twitter. 20 years later. Nothing has changed on that front.
Meanwhile on Sunday, private banks across Afghanistan resumed their operations. However, they limited withdrawals to no more than the equivalent of 200 a day.
While some complained of still being unable to access their money, government employees say they haven't been paid over the last four months. The Afghani traded around 90.5 to USD 1, continuing its depreciation as billions of dollars in the country's reserves remain frozen overseas.
Taliban’s brutality continues in Andarab. Today they brutally killed folkloric singer, Fawad Andarabi who simply was brining joy to this valley and its people. As he sang here “our beautiful valley….land of our forefathers…” will not submit to Taliban’s brutality. pic.twitter.com/3Jc1DnpqDH
— Masoud Andarabi (@andarabi) August 28, 2021
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Four arrested, minor detained for killing teenager in UP's Gorakhpur
Gorakhpur (UP)(PTI) Police on Tuesday arrested four persons and detained a boy in connection with the killing of a teenager at a school here, officials said.
The arrested accused have been identified as Dayanand alias Chhotu, Hrithik Roshan alias Roshan, Uday alias Kishan Kumar and Deepak, all residents of Pipraich police station area here and aged 19-20, the police officials said.
The detained minor will be produced before the Juvenile Justice Board, they said.
Police recovered a country-made pistol and a motorcycle allegedly used by the accused in the commission of the crime, they added.
Superintendent of Police (North) Gyanendra Nath Prasad said the arrests were made following sustained investigation and technical surveillance, and further legal proceedings were underway.
According to police, Sudhir Bharti (17), a class 11 student, was shot dead by the accused on December 26 over old enmity and a dispute triggered by social media posts in the playground of a school in the Pipraich area here.
Based on the complaint filed by Bharti's family, a case was registered under sections 103(1) (punishment for murder) and 61(2) (party to a criminal conspiracy) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and relevant provisions of the Arms Act.
According to eyewitnesses, Bharti was in the playground when he had an argument with a person from the same neighbourhood.
The argument escalated and the accused shot him with a country-made pistol, killing him on the spot, they said.
