Suicide bomber kills four near US embassy in Kabul

KABUL: A suicide bomber blew himself up at a bank close to the heavily protected U.S. embassy compound in Kabul on Tuesday, killing at least four people and wounding several, the interior ministry said.

The bomber hit the entrance to a Kabul Bank branch in the well-off area of Kabul, close to the main diplomatic quarter, ministry spokesman Najib Danish said.

It was the latest explosion to rock the war-weary Afghan capital and comes a week after United States President Donald Trump committed American soldiers to Afghanistan indefinitely.

It was not immediately clear how many casualties had been caused by the explosion, which came as banks were busy with people withdrawing money ahead of the Muslim Eid holiday at the end of the week, reported the Reuters.

Danish said at least four people had been killed and three wounded while the public health ministry said separately that one dead and eight wounded had been brought to city hospitals.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility. A spokesman for the Taliban, who are seeking to reimpose Islamic law after their 2001 ouster by U.S.-led troops, said he was checking reports.

The latest in a long series of suicide attacks in Kabul highlight the danger in the Afghan capital, where 209 civilians were killed and 777 injured in the first half of the year alone, according to United Nations figures.

President Ashraf Ghani’s government has started tightening security around the center of the city, where many of the most deadly attacks have taken place.

In May a massive truck bomb ripped through Kabul’s diplomatic quarter, killing about 150 and wounding around 400 people, mostly civilians

AFP adds: On August 26, at least 28 people lost their lives in a suicide bomb and gun attack on a Shia mosque in Kabul.

Distraught relatives and friends carried coffins into the cemetery one by one, a day after the latest deadly attack claimed by the Islamic State group.

Four attackers setting off explosions and firing gunshots laid siege to the Emam Zaman mosque in the north of Afghanistan’s capital for four hours as dozens of men, women, and children gathered for Friday prayers.

Some 50 people were also wounded in the attack which again underlined Afghanistan’s deteriorating security situation while more than 100 worshippers were rescued when security forces stormed the building.

In scenes that have become all too depressingly familiar for Shias in the war-torn country recently, wailing mourners gathered at the mosque Saturday to lay the bodies of the dead side by side in graves. – Agencies