17 kills , wounding 39 in Kabul ,Taliban claim responsibility

Taliban militants attacked Kabul city on Tuesday, killing 17 civilians and injuring 39 others, police confirmed. \"In the brutal suicide attack that shocked Kabul city this afternoon, 17 civilians including two women were martyred and 39 others including two women sustained injuries,\" deputy to Kabul police chief Daud Amin told media at the site of the blast, without giving more details. The blast took place at 04:15 p.m. local time next to the compound of Supreme Court when the employees of the apex court were sitting on their buses to go home. Driver of the Supreme Court Mohammad Azat in talks with Xinhua said that the suicide attacker targeted a bus of the employees, killing and injuring over two dozen people. However, General Mohammad Zahir, the head of Crime Investigation Department of Kabul police, in talks with journalists at the site of the blast said, \"It was a suicide car bomb that targeted one of the buses of the employees of Supreme Court.\" The site of blast is also close to the U.S. embassy. Meantime, Zabihullah Mujahid who claims to speak for the Taliban outfit in talks with media via telephone from unknown location claimed of responsibility, saying a Taliban fighter Abdul Wajid carried out the suicide attack against the Supreme Court, killing and injuring scores of judges of the entity. Nevertheless, the officials and eye witnesses at the site rejected the claim, insisting all the victims of the deadly attack were the ordinary civilians including some school children and low grade employees of the apex court. This is the second suicide attack carried out by Taliban over the past two days. In the previous attack which targeted the Kabul airport on Monday, all the seven attackers were killed and no civilians or security personnel harmed, according to police.