Mohammadzai Kochi, police chief of Kabul's police district 5 (PD5) was killed in an explosion that targeted his vehicle in downtown Kabul on Wednesday morning, First Vice President Amrullah Saleh confirmed.
The blast took place at around 8:55 am local time in Kart-e-Parwan in Kabul's PD4, targeting his vehicle, the sources said, adding that two of his bodyguards were also killed in the blast.
Kabul police said that two people were wounded in the blast, but details were not provided.
Mohammadzai graduated from the police academy 14 years ago worked as the police chief of PD3 and PD15 and recently he was appointed as police chief of PD5 in Kabul city.
The Interior Ministry officials said that he was involved in the arrest of several suspects in targeted killings in Kabul.
“The PD5 police chief was one of the brave police officers who worked hard day and nights for the security of the people of Kabul,” said Masoud Andrabi, Interior Minister, adding that “today also he was on his way to the office and mission” when targeted.
Saleh linked his death to Taliban and said that “we will take revenge.”
Kabul witnessed four explosions on Wednesday.
The first explosion targeted a police vehicle in Qala-e-Abdul Ali area in Paghman district in Kabul province, police said, adding that the blast caused no casualties.
The second blast hit a vehicle in Qowai Marzak area in downtown Kabul, leaving four people wounded, Kabul police said.
Sources said that the vehicle belonged to the Ministry of Labor.
The third blast hit Kochi’s vehicle.
The last blast hit a vehicle around 4:15 pm local time today in Kabul’s PD2, police confirmed. There were no casualties, police said.
This comes a day after four employees of the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development (MRRD) were killed in an attack by unidentified gunmen in Kabul on Tuesday, according to police.
In the second incident on Tuesday, a driver for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was killed in the Macrorayan area in Kabul city, the Ministry confirmed in a statement, saying one of its vehicles was hit by a “roadside mine blast.”
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Targeted attacks
The US Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) said in a report released on January 30 that the Taliban and Daesh have increased targeted assassinations outside of Kabul and that the Taliban attacks in the Afghan capital are on the rise, with increasing targeted killings of government officials, civil society leaders and journalists.
“Five journalists were killed in the last two months of 2020, as well as a number of civil-society leaders,” the report says.
The report says that high levels of insurgent and extremist violence continued in Afghanistan this quarter despite renewed calls from US officials for all sides to reduce violence in an effort to advance the ongoing peace process between the Taliban and the Afghan government.
Resolute Support, the NATO-led mission in Afghanistan, reported 2,586 civilian casualties from October 1 to December 31 last year, including 810 killed and 1,776 wounded, according to the SIGAR report.
The report says the proportion of casualties caused by IEDs increased by nearly 17 percent in this quarter, correlating with an increase in magnetically attached IEDs or “sticky bomb” attacks, the report said.