Suicide bombing kills 12, injures 10 in Afghan capital

KABUL, Afghanistan — An Afghan government official said 12 people were killed in a suicide car bombing in a western neighborhood of Kabul. Another 10 people were injured in the early Monday morning attack, said Interior Ministry spokesman Najib Danish. All the dead and wounded were civilians, he said.

Eyewitnesses said the suicide bomber seemed to target a minibus. It wasn’t known whether the bus carried government employees but Danish said police were on the scene investigating.

No one claimed responsibility for the attack.

On Sunday, Taliban fighters overran a second district headquarters in as many days , this one in western Ghor province, the provincial police chief said.

At least eight police were killed in separate battles against Taliban militants, who have stepped up their attacks in the north and west of the country laying siege to district headquarters, said Mohammad Mustafa Moseni.

Moseni said the Taliban launched four assaults on Ghor’s Taywara district headquarters early Sunday and “we had no choice but to retreat.” He said police have taken up positions about 5 miles from the district headquarters while they wait for reinforcements to launch a counterattack.

After capturing Taywara district Taliban fighters stalked the corridors of the only hospital looking for wounded Afghan National Security personnel to kill, said provincial public health department director Ghulam Nabi Yaghana.

He said he received reports that they killed four or five patients.

The Taliban, in a statement to the media, announced the capture of Taywara district headquarters. The statement, however, said 46 Afghan government security forces were killed.

The Associated Press could not independently verify either death toll.