The Latest: Pompeo condemns terror bombings in Afghanistan

By Associated Press
KABUL, Afghanistan — The latest on violence in Afghanistan (all times local):

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is strongly condemning the terrorist bombings in Afghanistan that killed 36 people in the capital and in Kandahar province.

Pompeo issued a statement calling Monday’s twin bombings in Kabul “senseless and barbaric” and he offered “our deepest condolences to the families and friends of the victims who injured and killed.”

He also noted that journalists were killed in the Kabul attack and said an “independent media is a cornerstone of democracy.” Nine journalists who rushed to the scene of the capital’s first bombing were hit by the second explosion, in the deadliest assault on reporters since the fall of the Taliban in 2001.

Pompeo praised the journalists for bravely pursuing their work and said that “despite today’s attack, the vibrant media landscape that has developed in Afghanistan will endure.”

The United Nations says Secretary-General Antonio Guterres “is outraged” by the series of terrorist attacks in Afghanistan that caused numerous casualties among civilians, emergency responders, school children and journalists.

The U.S. military says an American soldier was killed and another wounded during a combat operation in eastern Afghanistan. - Read More

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