Suicide bomber kills 5 at Kabul bank

KABUL — A Taliban suicide bomber struck at a bank not far from the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, killing five people Tuesday as government employees lined up to withdraw salaries ahead of a religious holiday.

Meanwhile, there were conflicting reports on deaths from an air strike 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 Eid al-Adha, the holiest period 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.

The target of the air strike in Herat’s Shindand district was a command center 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.

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 chief spokesman for the Defense Ministry, Gen. Dawlat Waziri, confirmed that Monday’s air strikes were carried out by Afghan warplanes.

Images of bodies of several children and two women, apparently among the victims, were posted on social media.