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Surveillance Footage Records Suicide Bombing at Kabul Police Headquarters

Video shows a smartly-dressed man apparently slipping through security before detonating a suicide bomb that killed an Afghan police official.
Image via YouTube/TOLO News

Closed-circuit television cameras in Kabul's police headquarters captured a well-dressed man walking through the complex on Sunday, but apparently beneath his suit were explosives that he used to kill himself and a senior police officer, as well as wounding six others.

Initial reports of the attack said the suicide bomber was dressed in military uniform but the video, released by Afghanistan's TOLO News, seems to refute that claim. Kabul Police Chief Gen. Zaher Zaher was the apparent target of the attack, which instead killed Zaher's chief of staff.

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The footage shows the suspected bomber walking up the stairs at the headquarters, right past a pair of armed guards. Another camera shows the man in a hallway before he knocks on a door and is admitted into the room.

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The video then returns to the stairway camera before the blast, which spreads debris all over the stairwell and sends people running around in chaos. The tail end of the footage shows a guard carrying a person downstairs. It's unclear from the video if that person was alive.

According to TOLO News, Zaher said that the bomber arrived at the station in a car, which wasn't searched upon entry.

This blast was one of three targeting police and security forces in Kabul on Sunday, and preceded three more attacks Monday, which killed at least 10 police officers. A suicide bomber killed seven officers at the police station in Logar province and a rickshaw bomb in Jalalabad killed three police instructors. The Taliban claimed responsibility for both those attacks.

Another bomb also detonated on Monday near a university in Kabul, wounding several civilians. Reports stated that a security convoy was the target of that attack. The Taliban has not claim responsibility for the third attack.

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