Four Afghan forces killed as Taliban attack hotel compound
Herat(Afghanistan), Jul 13: Four Afghan security forces were killed Saturday when Taliban insurgents attacked a hotel, officials said, as violence continues across Afghanistan despite US-led efforts to end the war.
The assault took place in Qala-i-Naw, the capital of the western province of Badghis, when attackers struck a commercial area housing the hotel and several shops in the small city.
"We had intelligence reports that suicide bombers were planning to attack Qala-i-Naw," Badghis governor Abdul Ghafoor Malikzai told AFP.
"The attackers took over a building near the governor's office and police headquarters".
The defence ministry said three attackers were killed and two more arrested.
Four members of the Afghan security forces were killed and 20 people wounded, including civilians, the ministry said.
The incident comes less than a week after Taliban officials were sitting face-to-face with US negotiators in Doha in a bid to end Afghanistan's nearly 18-year-old war.
Both sides reported good progress in the talks, but daily carnage continues across Afghanistan and NATO on Saturday announced the death of a US service member who was killed in a Taliban-claimed attack.
The hotel assault started around 12:40 pm (08:10 GMT) when a group of men, some wearing suicide vests, stormed the area.
Aziz Bek, the head of the Badghis provincial council, told AFP that children had been evacuated from nearby schools, and that explosions could be heard in the city.
According to Abdul Latif Rostaee, the local director of public health, 18 were wounded, including six civilians.
Nasrat Rahimi, an interior ministry spokesman, earlier said a group of suicide bombers had entered a hotel and were shooting civilians.
The attackers first hit a police checkpoint and then entered the hotel, according to Haroon Amir, a witness.
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Baramati plane crash: Rohit Pawar alleges attempts to shield VSR Ventures
Mumbai (PTI): NCP (SP) MLA Rohit Pawar on Wednesday alleged that someone was trying to save VSR Ventures in connection with the plane crash that killed Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, and claimed that the AAIB preliminary probe vindicated the doubts earlier raised by him.
He also accused VSR company of indulging in several grave lapses in the past.
The Learjet 45 aircraft, operated by VSR Ventures, crashed near the Baramati air strip in Pune district on January 28, killing Pawar and four others.
In its 22-page preliminary report on the VSR Venture's Learjet plane crash, the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) said the visibility at the time of the crash was below the required level. It also flagged about fading marks on the runway and presence of loose gravels on the runway surface.
Pawar said, "I am not against VSR or the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). Ajitdada was travelling in a VSR aircraft. Unless we go into the depth of every aspect, we will not know the truth. But someone is trying to save this company. The doubts we had raised have been proven correct in the inquiry report."
He also claimed that the AAIB report contained discrepancies, including mentioning Baramati as a district, and questioned how seriously the probe had been conducted.
Pawar, who has been regularly holding press conferences to raise issues concerning the Baramati plane crash, also contested the report's conclusion that the aircraft hit trees before crashing.
"The report says the aircraft struck trees and then fell. But there are no trees at that spot. There is only a small bush which the aircraft did not even touch. What is stated in the report about hitting trees is incorrect," he said.
Pawar further alleged that VSR Ventures had displayed irresponsibility on multiple occasions, citing an incident involving the then chief minister Eknath Shinde's Davos visit on January 20, 2023.
He claimed that the aircraft carrying Shinde had entered Iranian and Iraqi airspace without overflight permission, following which fighter jets from the two countries allegedly warned of action, forcing a change in route from Bahrain to Zurich.
"There have been several such grave lapses by VSR," he said.
Pawar demanded to know from where VSR Ventures derived its "audacity", and sought details about its investors and officials, though he added that he was not personally concerned with who they were.
Drawing a comparison, he said the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had taken over the probe into actor Sushant Singh Rajput's death within two days, whereas a month had passed since the Baramati crash without a similar action.
He claimed that VSR Ventures had two directors and three shareholders, and that there were eight common names across two related companies.
He further alleged that the owner of VSR was related to the Union Civil Aviation Minister and questioned why the company, though registered in Delhi, had made high-value investments in Jubilee Hills (upscale area in Hyderabad) at rates allegedly Rs 17 crore above the market price.
The MLA representing the Karjat-Jamkhed assembly constituency in Ahilyanagar district also raised concerns about the legal and institutional framework of the AAIB under the 2017 rules, claiming it was neither a statutory nor an autonomous body and remained answerable to the secretary and the minister, besides being attached to the DGCA.
"There is no independent investigative agency," he alleged.
