Taliban suicide car bomber kills at least 24 in Kabul

PanARMENIAN.Net - A Taliban suicide attacker detonated a car bomb in the western part of Kabul on Monday, July 24, killing at least 24 people and wounding more than 40, and the death toll could rise, an Interior Ministry spokesman in the Afghan capital said, according to Reuters.

Police cordoned off the area, located near the house of the deputy government Chief Executive Mohammad Mohaqiq in a part of the city where many of the mainly Shi'ite Hazara community live.

Monday's suicide bombing was yet another example of the unrelenting violence in Afghanistan.

The Taliban, which is battling the Western-backed government and a NATO-led coalition for control of Afghanistan, has launched a wave of attacks around the country in recent days, sparking fighting in more than half a dozen provinces.

Acting Interior Ministry spokesman Najib Danish said at least 24 people had been killed and 40 wounded but the casualty toll could rise further.

Salim Rasouli, director of the city's hospitals, said at least 13 dead and 17 wounded had been taken to hospitals.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the attack on behalf of the Islamist group in a post on Twitter, saying 37 "intelligence workers" had been killed.

The Taliban often exaggerate the scale of attacks against Afghan government and foreign targets.

Mujahid said the target of the attack had been two buses that had been under surveillance for two months.

Government security forces said a small bus owned by the Ministry of Mines had been destroyed in the blast.

Three civilian vehicles and 15 shops were destroyed or damaged in the blast, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.

At least 1,662 civilians were killed in Afghanistan in the first half of the year. The latest suicide bombing came two weeks after the Islamic State group claimed an attack on a mosque in the capital that killed at least four people.