Two explosions in Afghanistan's capital, Kabul, killed at least 30 people and wounded dozens more. Victims were rushed to nearby hospitals after the bombings on January 10, which took place near parliamentary offices in the center of the city.
Reuters reports a Taliban suicide attack in the Afghan capital Kabul on Tuesday killed more than 30 people and wounded some 70 others, as twin blasts hit a crowded area of the city during the afternoon rush hour.
Saleem Rasouli, a senior public health official, reportedly said 33 people had been killed and more than 70 wounded in the attack on the Darul Aman road, near an annex to the new Indian-financed parliament building. He said most of the victims were parliamentary staff members.
The Islamist militant Afghan Taliban movement, which immediately claimed responsibility for the Kabul attack, said its target had been a minibus carrying staff from the National Directorate of Security (NDS), Afghanistan's main intelligence agency.
It put the casualties at more than 70 and said they were all members of the security forces.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said a suicide bomber attacked the minibus in the Darul Aman area, and was followed almost immediately by a car bomber, who killed security forces attending the scene.
Hours after the Kabul incident, at least seven people were killed and 18 wounded in an explosion in the southern city of Kandahar, Reuters said, noting that there was no immediate claim of responsibility.
Afghanistan’s Khaama Press agency reports the governor of southern Kandahar province and ambassador of the United Arab Emirates were wounded in twin blasts that left several people dead or wounded.
Provincial police chief General Abdul Raziq reportedly confirmed that 11 people were killed and 12 others were wounded in the incident, including the Kandahar governor and UAE Ambassador.
According to Pajhwok Afghan News, at least 39 people were confirmed dead and 100 others wounded in the suicide bombings in front of the parliament building in Kabul and the capital of southern Kandahar province on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, earlier on Tuesday, a suicide bomber killed seven people and wounded nine when he detonated his explosives in a house in Helmand used by an NDS unit, according to Reuters.
Thousands of civilians have reportedly been killed in Afghanistan in the 15 years since the Taliban government was brought down in the U.S.-led campaign of 2001.
In July, the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan reported that 1,601 civilians had been killed in the first half of the year, a record since it began collating figures in 2009.
