By Sayed Salahuddin
Kabul: A Taliban suicide bomber struck at a bank not far from the US Embassy in Kabul, killing five people on Tuesday as government employees lined up to withdraw salaries ahead of a religious holiday.
Meanwhile, there were conflicting reports on deaths from an airstrike that sought to target a Taliban command post in western Afghanistan outside Herat. Provincial officials claimed that civilians were killed, but the Afghan Defense Ministry said Taliban militants were hit.
In the blast at Nawe Kabul bank, the Taliban said the suicide bomber targeted security forces waiting to withdraw cash ahead of Eid al-Adha, the holiest periods of the Muslim calendar.
A police official said that the bomber was shot as he attempted to make his way inside the bank but that he managed to detonate his explosives. The Interior Ministry said eight people were wounded in addition to the fatalities.
Afghan security personnel arrive at the site of a suicide bombing in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Tuesday.Credit: Rahmat Gul
The target of the airstrike in Herat's Shindand district was a command centre of the Taliban. But local officials said civilians were also killed.
At least 13 civilians, including women and children, were killed along with 16 Taliban fighters, said Jailani Farhad, a spokesman for the governor said.
A tribal chief from Herat, Ajab Gul, said at least 21 civilians, including women and children as young as 2 years old, were killed.
"They belonged to three families and there was no fighting or Taliban presence in the area at the time of the attacks," he said. "The victims are poor farmers."
The US Embassy and the NATO headquarters are about 500 meters away from the site of Tuesday's attack in Kabul.Credit: AP
The chief spokesman for the Defense Ministry, General Dawlat Waziri, confirmed that Monday's airstrikes were carried out Afghan warplanes.
Images of bodies of several children and two women, apparently among the victims, were posted on social media.
Afghan health workers carry the body of a victim at the site of suicide bombing in Kabul.Credit: AP
The deaths in Kabul and in Herat are part of a recent rise and spread of violence in Afghanistan, where both the Taliban and affiliates of the Islamic State militant group are leading separate insurgencies against the government and US troops backing it.
On Friday, nearly 30 Shiite worshippers were killed in a commando-style attack in a mosque in Kabul.
An Afghan security guard stands inside the bank after the explosion.Credit: AP
The Islamic State asserted responsibility for the assault, which, according to analysts, is aimed at fanning sectarian violence in the country, devastated by nearly four decades of war and foreign interventions.
Washington Post
The area where the explosion took place is home to many businesses. Credit: AP