Death toll from Kabul suicide bombing rises to 20

KABUL (Pajhwok): The death toll from the overnight suicide bombing in the heart of Kabul has risen to 20, a police official said on Friday.

At least 27 policemen were wounded in the attack in the ninth police district near the Shinozada Private Hospital.

Soon after the fatal assault, police said at least 11 people were killed and 25 others injured by the attacker, who detonated his explosives near a group of security personnel.

By Friday morning, the number of fatalities jumped to 20, one police official told an international news agency.

Tawab Khan, a resident of the locality, said a large number of security personnel had gathered in the area for a crackdown on shopkeepers involved in trading illicit substances.

Shortly after the incident, Kabul Emergency Hospital tweeted that 20 injured had been evacuated to the medical facility.

“Kabul police personnel were there to prevent a possible protest when a suicide bomber approached them and detonated his suicide vest,” a spokesman for the police force said.

nh/mud