Kabul Truck Bombing (2016)
The Kabul truck bombing on August 1, 2016, was a significant terrorist attack attributed to the Taliban, targeting the Northgate Hotel, a facility known for hosting foreign visitors and military contractors. The attack involved a powerful truck bomb that detonated outside the hotel, creating a massive explosion heard throughout Kabul and causing power outages in the area. Following the explosion, several suicide bombers attempted to breach the hotel's security. While hotel security and military forces responded quickly, the incident resulted in the death of one police officer and injuries to at least four others.
The bombing occurred during a period of heightened tension in Afghanistan, marked by a resurgence of the Taliban and ongoing threats from the Islamic State (ISIS), which had also begun to target the country. At the time of the attack, the Taliban was attempting to reassert its influence following the withdrawal of U.S. troops, and the group claimed responsibility for the bombing, although the casualty figures it presented were exaggerated. The Northgate Hotel had been a target before, reflecting the broader context of violence and instability in Afghanistan, particularly in Kabul, where numerous attacks had occurred in the years leading up to the bombing.
Subject Terms
Kabul Truck Bombing (2016)
Date: August 1, 2016.
Place: Kabul, Afghanistan
Summary
The August 2016 Kabul truck bombing was a terrorist attack claimed by the Taliban, targeting a hotel frequented by foreign visitors to Afghanistan. One police officer and three attackers were killed in the incident.
Key Events
- July 2, 2013—Taliban claims responsibility for an attack at the Northgate Hotel that kills four security guards.
- July 6, 2016—United States agrees to leave 8,400 troops in Afghanistan into 2017 to assist in the fight against the Taliban and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
- August 1, 2016—Terrorists attack the Northgate Hotel outside of Kabul.
Status
As of late 2016, Afghan officials believed that the Taliban was responsible for the attack on the Northgate Hotel compound on August 1. The Afghan military, assisted by 13,000 foreign combatants, including more than 8,000 US troops, is continuing to fight Taliban insurgents in locations around Afghanistan. In addition to the Taliban, the Afghan military and their foreign allies are facing terrorist attacks from the Islamic State (ISIS), which is also an enemy of both the Taliban and al-Qaeda, and launched a local Khorasan Province Branch in 2015 to conduct operations in Afghanistan. Afghanistan has also seen attacks by several smaller militant troops representing Uigyur and Uzbek separatist movements. The Taliban itself has also splintered into two groups, with the rival splinter group High Council of the Islamic Emirate, challenging the main faction of the Taliban, led by Hibatullah Akhundzada.
In-Depth Overview
The Taliban is a fundamentalist Islamic organization that formed in 1994, allegedly with the backing of neighboring Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence agency, and participated in an armed rebellion against the Afghan government. Representing the interests of the native Pashtun ethnic group, the Taliban grew through an influx of thousands of soldiers trained in conservative Islamic schools in Pakistan and succeeded in taking over Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001. After the terrorist attacks against the United States on September 11, 2001, the US government believed that the Afghan Taliban was harboring the allied Islamist group al-Qaeda and, as a result, the United States and allied nations invaded Afghanistan and removed the Taliban from power in 2001, installing a transitional government.
The United States declared an official end to the war in Afghanistan in 2014, beginning a slow withdrawal of troops. After the withdrawal, however, the Taliban rallied, with an influx of new fighters fleeing Islamist organizations in neighboring countries. In July 2015, the Taliban split into two factions with opposing goals. Also since 2015, the Afghan government has faced terrorist attacks by ISIS, which wants to form a worldwide Islamic caliphate headquartered in Syria and does not recognize the legitimacy of the Taliban. The Afghan capital, Kabul, has suffered numerous attacks since the resurgence of the Taliban in 2015 and the foundation of the Afghanistan branch of the Islamic State.
The Northgate Hotel, formerly called Camp North Gate, is a secure conference and hotel facility used primarily by employees of military and civilian contractors. The hotel offers numerous security features, including a walled perimeter, twenty-four-hour surveillance by armed canine units, twenty-four-hour CCTV monitoring, and a perimeter of security towers staffed by ex-military guards. In July 2013, when the facility was hosting employees of military contractor DynCorp, the Taliban claimed responsibility for an attack that used a truck bomb to breach the facility’s security wall. With the wall breached, armed militants stormed the compound, killing four Nepali security guards and an Afghan security guard before being killed by hotel security agents. Five civilian guests of the hotel were also wounded.
Between 2013 and 2015, US coalition forces, working with Afghan government forces, drove the Taliban from power throughout much of Afghanistan, leading to the 2014 withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan. This move marked an official end to the US war in Afghanistan. However, after US troop withdrawals, the Taliban grew stronger, capturing territories throughout Afghanistan as the Islamic State also began attacking more Afghan targets. On July 6, 2016, President Barack Obama announced that 8,400 US troops would remain in Afghanistan to help Afghan soldiers combat the resurgence of the Taliban and increasing pressure from ISIS.
On August 1, 2016, around 1:30 a.m. local time, a truck bomb was detonated outside Northgate Hotel. According to local reports, the explosion was severe enough that it was heard across Kabul and cut out electricity to part of the city. After the explosion, a group of suicide bombers attempted to rush through the damaged wall. Hotel security and military forces were at the scene within minutes of the explosion. An unidentified local police officer was reportedly killed at the scene and at least four others were wounded. According to Sediq Sediqqi, of the Afghan Interior Ministry, two suicide attackers were killed in gunfire and a third detonated an explosive-packed suicide vest, but did not manage to enter the compound.
Shortly after the attack, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid released a statement claiming responsibility for the attack and claiming that their soldiers had killed at least one hundred Americans. Though the Taliban’s report was largely false, the Afghan government and American forces believed that the attack was connected to the Taliban, rather than to ISIS, which had recently conducted the deadliest attack in Kabul in more than a decade, killing at least eighty people at a march in support of the local, predominantly Shiite Hazara minority.
Key Figures
Zabihullah Mujahid: Spokesman for the Taliban who released a statement taking responsibility for the attack on Northgate Hotel.
Sediq Sediqqi: Spokesman for the Afghan Interior Ministry who released a press statement about the attack.
Hibatullah Akhundzada: Current leader of the Taliban in Afghanistan.
Bibliography
Ahmed, A. (2013, July 2). Suicide attack at Afghan base kills at least 9. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/03/world/asia/suicide-attack-afghanistan.html
Azami, D. (2016, January 5). Why are the Taliban resurgent in Afghanistan? BBC News. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-35169478
Kabul explosion: Foreign compound targeted by Taliban. (2016, August 1). BBC News. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-36938246
Mashal, M. (2016, July 6). Taliban claim responsibility for bombing at a Kabul hotel for foreigners. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/01/world/asia/kabul-afghanistan-northgate-truck-bomb.html
Taliban truck bomb strikes hotel for foreigners in Kabul. (2016, August 1). The Telegraph. Retrieved from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/08/01/taliban-truck-bomb-strikes-hotel-for-foreigners-in-kabul/
Visser, S. and Popalzai, M. (2016, August 1). Kabul’s Northgate Hotel bombed, attacked. CNN World. Retrieved from http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/31/asia/kabul-blast/
Withnall, A. (2016, August 1). Kabul hotel attack: Three attackers dead after Taliban bomb and gun attack on compound for foreigners. Independent. Retrieved from http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/kabul-hotel-attack-three-attackers-dead-after-taliban-bomb-and-gun-attack-on-compound-for-foreigners-a7165746.html