At least 24 people killed in Kabul car bombing: Afghan ministry

At least 24 people have been killed and 42 wounded after a Taliban car bomb struck a bus carrying government employees in western Kabul yesterday, officials said, the latest attack to strike the Afghan capital.

"The car bomb hit a bus carrying employees of the ministry of mines during rush hour," interior ministry spokesman Najib Danish told AFP.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the blast that hit a busy neighborhood of the Afghan capital just before 7 am. 

The bombing comes as the resurgent militant group has stepped up attacks across the country in recent days, with several new districts falling to the Taliban over the weekend.

The blast hit an area of the capital that is home to many Shiite Hazaras, a persecuted ethnic minority who have been targeted many times in the past.

It is also near the home of prominent politician and former warlord Mohammad Mohaqeq.

Omid Maisom Mohaqiq, a spokesman for the politician, said the bomb had detonated near the first checkpoint approaching the house, "killing and wounding some civilians."

An AFP photographer at the scene saw multiple bodies and wounded people in the street, surrounded by shattered glass as security forces cordoned off the area. The charred remains of the bus stood in the middle of the road and a black column of smoke from the explosion hung in the air.

An army truck and forklifts were attempting to remove the carcass of the bus as ambulances as well as taxis and private cars ferried the injured to nearby hospitals, an AFP photographer said.

Kabul's Hazara community were due to mark on July 24 the one-year anniversary of an attack in the heart of the capital that killed 84 and wounded more than 300 people, mostly members of the...