A suicide bomber killed 14 people and wounded at least eight others in an attack on a minibus in Afghan capital Kabul in the early hours of Monday (20 June). A spokesperson for the Afghan ministry of interior affairs, Sediq Sediqqi, confirmed the incident in a post on Twitter.

Kabul police chief Abdul Rahman Rahimi said that the casualties included Nepalese security contractors and Afghan nationals, who were on board the minibus. He added, the suicide bomber was waiting near a facility housing Nepalese security contractors and detonated the bomb as the bus passed by him. Along with passengers, some people at a market nearby were also injured in the attack.

Taliban has claimed responsibility for the blast. Bomb attacks are on the rise in Afghanistan especially since the death of its former leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour, who was killed in a US drone strike recently. In May, a deadly attack on a bus carrying justice ministry officials near Kabul and another attack on a court in the central city of Ghazni on 1 June claimed several lives. Both the attacks were claimed by the Taliban.

They also claimed an attack in the Afghan capital in April, that left 64 dead and more than 340 wounded.

Afghanistan