Seventeen people were killed, including four International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) soldiers, during a suicide attack in the Bagram district of central Parwan province of Afghanistan, said officials Tuesday.
The district police chief, Colonel Mohammad Masoom Farzaee said in a statement that a suicide bomber detonated his explosives in Qalandar Khel area of the town at a time when US troops were distributing stationeries among school students.
He confirmed that eleven schoolchildren and two policemen were killed and seven others wounded in the attack.
The police chief said the suicide attack also inflicted casualties on foreign troops.
A brief statement by ISAF said, "Four International Security Assistance Force service members died as a result of an enemy forces attack." The coalition force did not reveal the nationalities of the victims in line with their policy. The injured were rushed to nearby hospitals.
According to local media reports, the spokesman for Taliban rebels, Zabihullah Mujahid claimed the responsibility of the attack in a statement to media. He said that the suicide attack was carried out by one of their fighters.
The attack came just a day after the Independent Election Commission announced the preliminary results of the Presidential elections declaring the former finance minister Dr. Ashraf Ghani as the winner. The NATO led ISAF mission is scheduled to leave Afghanistan in the end of the year.