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By Abdul Haleem

KABUL, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Continued militancy, mostly in the shape of suicide bombings in Afghanistan, which often hurt and kill civilians, have ensured that armed opposition groups in the militancy-plagued country are resolutely hated by civilians here.

In the latest deadly suicide bombing, which occurred in the eastern Paktia's provincial capital Gardez city on Sunday and for which the Taliban claimed responsibility, left 12 people including six police and six attackers dead.

The target of the attack was obviously a police regional headquarters as well as a nearby provincial police station and a police training center. According to the Taliban, the attack had inflicted huge losses to the businesses in Gardez city.

The deadly attack which started with the detonation of a suicide car bomb and triggered a gun battle which lasted for more than 10 hours, according to locals, damaged several government offices, houses and shops nearby.

It also claimed the lives of some civilians, according to locals. In addition, police have confirmed that 20 civilians sustained injuries with some left in critical conditions due to the blast and gunshots.

"Carrying out suicide attacks and killing people who are fasting in the month of Ramadan is not justifiable," a resident of Gardez city, Mohammad Qayam, 43, told Xinhua.

"The perpetrators of the attack who justify their cowardly terrorist acts as "defending Islam" and "fighting for the country's freedom" are, in fact, defaming Islam and destroying the country," the infuriated Qayam lamented.

Earlier on Thursday, June 15, a terrorist attack in the shape of suicide bombing and gunshots targeted a mosque in Kabul killing four worshippers and injuring eight others. Militants loyal to the hardliner Islamic State (IS) group claimed responsibility.

"Killing innocent people under the name of Islam by the so-called Islamic groups, is virtually tantamount to enmity with the peace-loving religion of Islam and Muslims across the world," another Afghan national Mohammad Wafa told Xinhua.

Afghans from all walks of life have strongly condemned the terrorist attacks that claimed the lives of people especially in the holy month of Ramadan the Muslim fasting holy month during which the faithful people observe the fast and do not eat or drink from dawn to dusk.

Former President Hamid Karzai, in a statement released by his office, described the attack as an inhuman act and against Islamic values and condemned it in the strongest terms.

A truck bomb detonated by a suicide bomber in Kabul on May 31 left more than 150 people, mostly civilians dead and injured more than 400 others.

In the conflict-hit Afghanistan civilians often bear the brunt of war as the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) documented 2,181 civilian casualties (715 dead and 1,466 injured) in the first quarter of 2017.

Expressing his hatred for terrorist attacks performed in the name of Islam, a Kabul resident Samiul Haq said, "I don't like to follow a religion that allows the killing of innocent civilians, especially the worshippers inside mosques."

Head of Afghan Ulema Council or Council of religious scholars, Qiamuddin Kashaf has condemned the violence and said that "Islam strongly denounces violence and terrorism in all its forms and manifestations."