Taliban Denies Attacking The Red Cross

Taliban militants accused of a suicide bomb attack to the headquarters of the International Red Cross (ICRC) in Kabul, Afghanistan. But the Taliban dismissed the attack. 

The attack forced the ICRC to suspend their operations in Afghanistan. Attacks that occurred during the two hours caused one Afghan guards were killed.

Nangarhar police chief Mohammad Sharif Amin said the bomber blew himself up in front of an office located in the city of Jalalabad. In addition to killing security officers, the incident also wounded in Nangarhar ICRC Chairman Anis Baburi.

Evacuation ICRC staff (Reuters)

The ICRC said the bomb attack was the first time the company experienced during 26 years of operations in Afghanistan. The bombing occurred after the previous week office complexes International Organization for Migration (IOM) also suffered attacks.

Both incidents raised fears that Afghanistan began a new chapter of violence, where humanitarian agencies are no longer considered untouchable terror. But the Taliban has denied the attack was the work of them.

"We argue that the attacks happened at the ICRC office in Jalalabad or support such attacks," the Taliban statement, as quoted by AFP on Saturday (01/06/2013).

ICRC which has approximately 1,800 employees worldwide, putting 36 staff in Jalalabad. Six of Jalalabad ICRC staff are foreigners.

During operations in Afghanistan, the ICRC issued tens of millions of pounds worth of funding for the project. Approximately 1,800 staff working with the ICRC distributed artificial limbs to the Afghan citizens who are victims of war

Immediately after the attack ICRC temporarily suspended their operations in all regions of Afghanistan. According to the ICRC's Asia Pacific Director Jacques de Maio explained that it had to withdraw all staff and no staff still took to the streets in Afghanistan.