Kabul, July 2 (IANS): A suicide bomber targeted a bus of Afghan armed forces in the fortified capital city Kabul, leaving at least eight people dead and over a dozen others injured Wednesday.
Defence ministry spokesman Zahir Azimi confirmed the incident, saying eight personnel of the national army lost their lives in the attack and 13 others sustained injuries, according to Xinhua.
The ill-fated bus, according to eyewitnesses at the site of the blast, belonged to the air force of the militancy-plagued country.
Immediately after the deadly suicide bombing, Taliban militants who have been fighting in the southern Helmand province to strengthen their hold, claimed responsibility for the attack in Kabul.
Taliban's purported spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid, in a statement posted on the outfit's website, claimed that a Taliban suicide bomber, Rahmatullah Walid of the southern Zabul province, carried out the suicide attack against a bus of government soldiers in Kabul Wednesday morning, killing and injuring over two dozen military personnel.
Meanwhile, the Afghan interior ministry in a statement released here termed the suicide bombing as a cowardly terrorist attack and strongly condemned it.
According to the interior ministry's statement, 16 people, including three civilians and 13 military personnel, were injured in the suicide blast.
Besides denouncing the attack as a terrorist and inhuman act, the interior ministry expressed sympathy for the families of the victims.
The Taliban-led insurgency has been rampant since the armed Taliban outfit launched the so-called spring offensive in May against Afghan and foreign security forces stationed in Afghanistan.
The Taliban outfit has called upon civilians to stay away from official gatherings, military convoys and centres regarded as legitimate targets by militants besides warning people not to support the government and foreign troops serving in Afghanistan.