Residents in Afghanistan’s Samangan province on Tuesday called for a probe into attack on the Afghan intelligence agency---the National Directorate of Security (NDS)--facility, and called for the arrest of the perpetrators who collaborated with the suicide attackers in launching the deadly attack in the province.
 
This comes hours after a suicide car bomb explosion and ensuing gun battle, claimed by the Taliban, occurred on Monday morning in front of the National Directorate of Security (NDS) compound in Aybak city, the center of the northern Afghan province of Samangan, and ended with three attackers and at least 11 other people killed.
 
Residents said that it is questionable how the insurgents managed to pass through several checkpoints to reach their target.
 
63 people, including 16 NDS employees, were wounded in the attack.
 
According to officials, three attackers were involved in the attack that was claimed by the Taliban shortly after the initial blast.
 
“The people are very concerned, security should have been in place there, but they didn’t manage to control the situation,” said Mohammad Bek, a resident in Samangan province.
 
“The people are frightened, many people were wounded, many of them are civilians, they also destroyed hotels and shops, the people have suffered a major loss,” said Barat, a resident in Samangan.
 
“The Taliban had said that they will commit to peace and will avoid war, but again they staged such a major attack,” said Nematullah, a resident.
 
According to the local officials, the attack has inflicted over 25 million afs financial loss for the NDS facility.
 
“We have suffered a 25 million afs loss, two trucks were destroyed including three new vehicles, there are cracks on the building,” said Ferozuddin Tigeen, the mayor of Aybak.
 
“We have two check points in Feroznakhjir and Akhkam areas, negligence was the cause there, because of that, these vehicles managed to enter the city and carry out the attack,” said Sifatullah Samangani, the deputy governor of Samangan.
 
Five years back, a suicide attacker targeted the marriage ceremony og the daughter of former MP Ahmad Khan Samangani in Aybak city. The attack left at least 32 people dead and 40 more wounded. Samangani was also among those killed in the attack.
 
Violence is increasing in many parts of the country amid peace efforts.
 
The National Security Council (NSC) on Saturday, July 11, released data on civilian casualties, saying 23 civilians were killed and 45 others were wounded in Taliban violence over the last week.
 
Figures by the National Security Council indicate that 16 provinces of the country have witnessed 284 attacks by the Taliban in the last seven days.