Taliban claim responsibility for attack that killed at least 24 people in a western Kabul neighbourhood.

At least 24 people have been killed and more than 40 wounded after a suicide car bomb targeted Afghanistan's capital Kabul, officials have said.

The target of Monday's attack was a bus carrying staff of the Ministry of Mines and Petroleum, intelligence officials said.

Najib Danish, an acting Interior Ministry spokesman added that the casualty toll could rise.

Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement.

The attack came just before 7am local time (02:30 GMT) and took place close to the house of the deputy government Chief Executive Mohammad Mohaqi.

The Hazaras are one of Afghanistan's largest ethnic minorities, accounting for up to 20 percent of Afghanistan's 30 million inhabitants.

Hazara Shia Muslims are often the target of sectarian violence in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The latest suicide bombing adds to the unrelenting violence in Afghanistan, where at least 1,662 civilians were killed in the first half of the year.

It came two weeks after the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group claimed an attack on a mosque in the capital that killed at least four people.

Kabul has accounted for at least 20 percent of all civilian casualties this year, including at least 150 people killed in a massive truck bomb attack at the end of May, according to UN figures. </s> At least 18 people were killed in a suicide car bomb attack in Afghanistan’s Khost province on Saturday – the first day of Islam’s holy month of Ramadan, Al Jazeera reported. The Taliban has claimed the attack which took place at around 8.30 am on Saturday morning near a bus station and a football field close to a military base in Khost.

“The target of the attack was Afghan police and the United States forces, but most of the victims were civilians,” Mubariz Zadran, spokesperson for the governor of Khost province told Al Jazeera.

The target of the attack was the Khost Provincial Force which is estimated to have around 4,000 fighters operating against the Taliban along the Pakistan border.

Meanwhile, at least 22 militants, six officers and right civilians were killed in Badges on Saturday during clashes between the militants and security forces, reported Reuters. At least 50, including militants and civilians, were left injured in the firing.

The attack comes two days after at least 15 soldiers died in an attack by Taliban in Kandahar in Afghanistan. In the last one week, over 60 security personnel have lost their lives in the various attacks in the country. Last month, the Taliban had killed 140 military men near an Afghan military base in Mazar-e-Sharif. </s> KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — An Afghan official confirmed that at least five people were killed when a suicide bomber on foot carried out an attack in the capital, Kabul.

Najib Danish, deputy spokesman for the Interior Ministry, said three others were wounded in Wednesday’s blast in central Kabul.

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for Wednesday’s attack via the IS-run Amaq news agency.

The attack took place near the country’s Defense Ministry compound, as well as a city police station.

Last month around 50 people were killed after militants stormed a military hospital in Kabul; that attack was also claimed by the Islamic State group. </s> A suicide bomber killed at least 16 people and wounded 35 others as they attended Friday prayers at a mosque in a northwestern Pakistani tribal area, officials said.

The bombing took place in the village of Butmaina in the Mohmand tribal district bordering Afghanistan where the army has been fighting against Taliban militants.

"The Friday prayer was in progress at the mosque when a suicide bomber blew himself up in the main room killing at least 16 worshippers and wounding 35 others," a senior tribal administration official told AFP.

"The area is remote and so far I have received only this information from our sources via wireless," he said, adding a curfew had since been imposed.

Another local government official confirmed the information.

The assault was later condemned by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, whose office released a statement that said: "The cowardly attacks by terrorists cannot shatter the government's resolve to eliminate terrorism from the country."

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but the Pakistani Taliban routinely attack soft targets such as courts, schools and mosques.

On September 2, at least 14 people were killed and more than 50 wounded after a suicide bomber attacked a court in the Pakistani city of Mardan in an assault targeting Pakistan's legal community that was claimed by the Jamaat-ul-Ahrar Taliban faction.

The group has also said it was behind an attack on lawyers in southwest Quetta, which killed 73 people on August 8, as well as the Lahore Easter bombing that killed 75 in Pakistan's deadliest attack this year.

Pakistan's deadliest ever attack occurred in Peshawar in December 2014, when Taliban militants stormed a school killing more than 150 people, mostly children.

The army launched an operation in June 2014 in a bid to wipe out militant bases in the northwestern tribal areas and so bring an end to the bloody insurgency that has cost thousands of civilian lives since 2004.

Security in the country has since improved. Scattered attacks still take place, but they are fewer and of a lesser intensity than in previous years.

According to data from the South Asia Terrorism Portal, 457 civilians and 182 security forces were killed in Pakistan from January 1 to September 11, putting 2016 on course for fewer casualties than 2015.

Last year, the country recorded its lowest number of killings since 2007, when the Pakistani Taliban was formed. </s> KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — An Afghan official says at least 17 people including a policeman are dead after a militant attack on a Shiite shrine in the capital Kabul late Tuesday.

Sediq Sediqqi, the Interior Ministry’s spokesman said Wednesday that another 62 people, including 12 policemen were wounded in the attack.

The attack on the Sakhi Shrine, Kabul’s biggest, happened as Shiite Muslims were mourning the death in 680 AD of the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson, Imam Hussein.

Mourning climaxes on Ashoura Day, which falls on Wednesday, a public holiday in Afghanistan.

Shiites, mostly ethnic Hazaras, had been warned by authorities to avoid large gatherings as attacks were expected.

No group has claimed responsibility for Tuesday’s attack.

In July, a suicide bomber attacked Hazaras at a public demonstration, killing 80 and wounding hundreds of others. </s> Dozens of people were killed or wounded when as many as five suicide bombers attacked a police headquarters in eastern Afghanistan on Sunday, officials say.

The attack began about 6:30am when one bomber detonated a car packed with explosives at the gate of the police headquarters in Gardez city, capital of Paktia province, said Najib Danish, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry.

Four more attackers stormed the gate after the blast, with at least two quickly killed by police.

The others held out against Afghan special forces that had responded to the attack, he said.

Mr Danish put the toll at two police killed and five wounded.

However, doctors at the city hospital said they had received the bodies of at least five police, as well as at least 30 wounded people, including 20 civilians.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, with spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid reporting more than 100 police were killed and wounded.

The Islamist group often exaggerates casualty numbers in attacks against government targets and security forces.

Insurgent groups such as the Taliban and Islamic State have launched a string of attacks across Afghanistan in recent weeks.

Islamic State claimed responsibility for a deadly attack on a mosque in Kabul on Thursday.

A massive truck bombing and later suicide attacks left hundreds dead and wounded at the end of May and beginning of June, raising political tensions for the Afghan Government, which is struggling to combat rising violence and corruption.

Thousands of international troops remain in the country to train and assist Afghan security forces as well as carry out counterterrorism missions.

American defence officials say they will decide in the coming weeks whether to send between 3,000 to 5,000 more troops as requested by military commanders. </s> A wave of attacks across Afghanistan has left more than 25 people dead, most of them soldiers, officials say.

In the worst incident, Taliban militants stormed an army post in the western province of Farah, killing 22 soldiers.

A suicide attack in the capital Kabul left at least three security officers dead.

There has been a surge in militant attacks in recent months and the army is often targeted.

Some analysts see it as a response to a new, more aggressive strategy announced by US President Donald Trump last year, which committed the US army to an open-ended conflict, with the focus on “killing terrorists”.

Early on Saturday, Taliban forces mounted an overnight attack on a base in Farah.

Weapons were seized and the Afghan military said the Taliban had incurred a “lot of casualties”.

In Kabul, a suicide bomber detonated his explosives in an area dotted with key diplomatic buildings.

“I was driving nearby when I heard a big explosion, the windows of my car were smashed. I saw several wounded people on the street near me,” a witness told Afghan channel Tolonews TV.

Jihadist group Islamic State said it carried out the attack, Reuters reported.

There were further suicide attacks in Helmand province in the south, leaving two army members dead, and others, including women and children, injured.

The Taliban control large swathes of Afghanistan – but IS militants hold sway in a much smaller number of districts.

However, both groups have demonstrated their ability to hit targets across the country.

They have often come into conflict with each other, too. </s> JALALABAD, Afghanistan (Reuters) - A suicide bomber blew himself up at an election rally in Afghanistan’s eastern province of Nangarhar on Tuesday, killing at least seven people and wounding 25, officials said, warning that the toll was likely to climb.

Campaigning for the Oct. 20 parliamentary election began on Friday and security officials have warned that campaign meetings would be vulnerable to attack by militant groups.

Attaullah Khogyani, the spokesman of the provincial governor, said at least seven bodies had been taken to hospital, but other officials said the total was likely to be much higher.

Around 250 people were attending the rally in Kama district outside the provincial capital of Jalalabad, said Sohrab Qaderi, a member of the provincial council, adding that at least 20 were killed and dozens more wounded.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility. Militant group Islamic State has claimed a series of attacks this year that have killed scores of people in Nangarhar, on the border with Pakistan. </s> KABUL - More than 10,000 Afghan civilians were killed or wounded in violence last year, the United Nations said on Thursday, with militant bombings the main cause while air strikes by US and government forces inflicted a rising toll.

US President Donald Trump introduced a more aggressive US strategy in Afghanistan in August including a surge in air strikes. The militants have responded with attacks in Kabul in the past few weeks, killing nearly 150 people.

The overall civilian toll last year of 3,438 killed and 7,015 wounded was 9 percent lower than the previous year. But the figures highlighted the high number of casualties caused by militant bombs, the United Nations said.
A series of militant attacks in Afghanistan kill more than 20 people.