Suicide attack kills 8 in Kabul, Taliban claim responsibility

A suicide bomber targeted a bus of Afghan armed forces in the fortified capital city Kabul, leaving at least eight persons dead and over a dozen others injured on Wednesday.
Defense Ministry spokesman Zahir Azimi has confirmed the incident, saying eight personnel of the national army had lost their lives in the attack and 13 others sustained injuries.
The ill-fated bus, according to the eyewitnesses at the site of the blast, belonged to the air force of the militancy-plagued country.
Immediately after the deadly suicide bombing, Taliban militants who have been fighting in the southern Helmand province to strengthen their grab claimed responsibility for the attack in Kabul.
Taliban purported spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid in a statement posted on the outfit's website claimed that a Taliban suicide bomber, Rahmatullah Walid of the southern Zabul province, carried out suicide attack against a bus of government soldiers in Kabul Wednesday morning killing and injuring over two dozen military personnel.
Meanwhile, Afghan Interior Ministry in a statement released here termed the suicide bombing as a coward terrorist attack and strongly condemned it.
According to the Interior Ministry's statement, 16 people including three civilians and 13 military personnel were injured in the suicide blast.
Besides denouncing the attack as terrorist and inhuman act, the Interior Ministry in the statement expressed sympathy for the families of the victims.
Taliban-led insurgency has been rampant since the armed Taliban outfit launched the so-called spring offensive in May against Afghan and foreign security forces stationed in Afghanistan.
The armed Taliban outfit has called upon civilians to stay away from official gatherings, military convoys and centers regarded as the legitimate targets by militants besides warning people not to support the government and foreign troops serving in Afghanistan.