14 Nepalese security contractors dead in Kabul suicide attack

KABUL (Pajhwok): Fourteen Nepalese citizens were killed and nine others, including four Afghans, wounded in a suicide bombing in Kabul on Monday, the Ministry of Interior (MoI) said.

The bomb took place at around 6:00am in the limits of the 9^th police district in Banai locality, a statement from the ministry said. “The bomber rammed into a mini-bus carrying Nepalese security guardswith a foreign company, leaving 14 dead and nine others hurt.”

Following the first major attack in the capital during the ongoing holy month of Ramadan, area residents claimed seeing several dead bodies lying at the scene and some injured individuals being shifted to hospital by ambulances.

Sediq Sediqqi, MoIspokesman, tweeted 14 people had been killed. Police were trying to identify the victims, he said.

One security official at the site said the assailant hit the vehicle soon after it took to the main road. A number of people in a nearby market were also injured in the early-moing bombing, he revealed, requesting not to be named.

As usual, the Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, with the militant group’s spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid saying casualties had been inflicted on many foreign and Afghan forces.

nh/mud