Early today morning, an explosive-rigged vehicle exploded near a Defense Ministry military facility in Gardiz city, the center of eastern Paktia province, officials in Thunder military corps said.
According to Emal Khan Momand, an official in the Thunder Corps, the deadly attack left five civilians killed and 19 others, including five Afghan soldiers, injured.
Those injured in the attack were taken to hospital, he added.
The Afghan Ministry of Interior (MoI) has confirmed today’s car bomb attack in Paktia, saying the Tayiba and Haqqani Network affiliates were behind it.
The Taliban, however, claimed responsibility for the deadly attack.
“Following declaring of offensive ops by enemy, a martyrdom attack struck their military HQ ‘Askari Club’ in Gardez #Paktia 8am today resulting in tens of gunmen killed/wounded as southern wall of base destroyed & building housing troopers heavily damaged,” Zabihullah Mujahed, a spokesman for the group took to Twitter.
After a series of dead-dealing assaults in Kabul and Nangarhar provinces that left heavy casualties to civilians, the Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani in a televised speech ordered to Afghan forces to shift from defensive position to active offensive position.
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