A blast on Monday (11) killed 13 people and wounded more than 25 people during rush hour at the entrance to Afghanistan’s Rural Rehabilitation and Development Ministry in Kabul.
The Islamic State (IS) has claimed responsibility for the attack, which comes as security has deteriorated in Afghanistan’s capital city ahead of elections scheduled for October. “Woman, children and employees of the [Rehabilitation] Ministry are among the victims,” Najib Danish, spokesman for the interior ministry, told Reuters.
No children were among the dead.
The suicide bomber detonated his explosives at the gate, and it wasn’t immediately known if all the victims are employees of the ministry.
Over the weekend, Afghan Taliban militants announced a three-day ceasefire for the Muslim holiday of Eid. This comes just a day the government declared an unconditional ceasefire of its own against the Taliban.
However, both the army as well as Afghan militants have vowed to retaliate if attacked during the ceasefire.
Afghanistan has been witnessing a series of attacks in the past few months. A week ago, a motorcycle suicide bomber killed 14 people near a gathering of Muslim clerics in Kabul and in April, two explosions in Afghanistan’s capital city killed at least 26 people.
In January, an ambulance was used as a vehicle-borne explosive device near Sidarat Square, killing at least 103 and injuring 235 others. The Kabul Intercontinental Hotel was also under siege for more than 12 hours where gunmen roamed through hotel rooms looking for foreigners. A car bomb attack at Save the Children’s offices in Jalalabad and a rampage on a military academy in Kabul also rocked Afghanistan in January.
