BOMBING KILLS 2 KABUL VARSITY LECTURERS

Kabul, Feb. 18: An explosion in the Afghan capital on Thursday killed two lecturers at the Kabul University, after a bomb attached to the car they were travelling in went off, a police spokesman said.

The attack took place around noon near the university, said Kabul police spokesman Ferdaws Faramarz. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the bombing.

The two lecturers, Mubasher Muslimyar and Marouf Rasikh, taught at the university's Islamic studies faculty, according to an Afghan official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.

Two years ago, Muslimyar had been briefly arrested by the Afghan intelligence agency over allegations of promoting militant propaganda by the Islamic State group among university students.

No charges were raised and he was later released. Kabul police said an investigation team had arrived at the scene of the explosion.

This was the second explosion on Thursday in Kabul.

Philadelphia, Feb. 18: At least eight people were wounded by gunfire Wednesday near a transit station in north Philadelphia, and one was critically injured, police said.

A 71-year-old man was listed in critical condition after he was hit once in the stomach and multiple times in the legs shortly before 3 pm (local time) near the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority station in the Olney neighbourhood, police said.

Police said a 22-year-old man was shot in the back, two other men aged 21 and 53 were hit in the legs and a 36-year-old woman and 70-year-old man were each struck in the thigh. A 17-year-old girl was grazed on the right arm.

A 48-year-old man later walked into a hospital with a graze wound to his stomach, police said. He and the others were listed in stable condition.

Police reported two firearms recovered and one person in custody. Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw said it's unclear whether the firearms confiscated were used in what she called a very brazen” shooting.