KABUL: A suicide attacker targeting a prominent Afghan MP killed three people and wounded seven others in Kabul on Sunday, just days after Washington announced it would slow the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan.

President Barack Obama last Tuesday reversed plans to withdraw around 5,000 US troops from Afghanistan this year, an overture to the country’s new reform-minded leader, President Ashraf Ghani.

The Taliban, waging a deadly insurgency since they were ousted from power in late 2001, warned that the announcement would damage any prospects of peace talks as they vowed to continue fighting.

The suicide bomber detonated himself on Sunday evening as Gul Pacha Majidi, a lawmaker from eastern Paktia province, was leaving a meeting of Afghan elders in central Kabul. He escaped with shrapnel wounds to his leg.

“Majidi was attending a jirga (assembly of elders)... and as he was exiting the premises, a suicide attacker on foot detonated himself,” Kabul police chief Abdul Rahman Rahimi said. Interior ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi confirmed the incident but did not offer any details on casualties.

Published in Dawn, March 30th, 2015

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