Afghan Vice President survives second assassination attempt in less than a year

Afghanistan: Taliban fighters on Saturday attacked a convoy carrying Afghanistan’s vice president Abdul Rashid Dostum, in an assault that left the former warlord unscathed but killed one of his bodyguards, an official told AFP.

Enayatullah Babur, Dostum’s former chief of staff, said the hour-long attack also left several others in the convoy wounded.

The attack occurred in the northern province of Balkh, where Dostum had held a rally earlier in the day.

On Twitter, a Taliban spokesman said the insurgent group had carried out the attack and claimed four of Dostum’s bodyguards had been killed.

The full video of the Taliban ambush on Dostum’s convoy was shared on Twitter by ITCT Deputy Director and Head of South Asia desk Faran Jeffery.

Part II: Taliban ambush on Afghan Vice President Dostum's convoy in Balkh. #Afghanistan pic.twitter.com/HeXcAvRVo8

— F. Jeffery (@Natsecjeff) April 2, 2019

Part IV: Taliban ambush on Afghan Vice President Dostum's convoy in Balkh. #Afghanistan pic.twitter.com/Hl132Jh3WE

— F. Jeffery (@Natsecjeff) April 2, 2019

Dostum, a powerful ethnic Uzbek leader, is notorious in Afghanistan for extreme barbarities and for repeatedly switching loyalties over 40 years of conflict.

Despite a catalogue of war crimes attached to his name and accusations of organising the rape and torture of a political rival, Dostum became Afghanistan’s first vice president in 2014.