At least 26 people were killed and 41 wounded on Monday after a Taliban-claimed car bomb struck a bus carrying Government employees through a Shiite neighbourhood in Kabul, raising fears of sectarian violence in the Afghan capital.
The assault came as a presidential spokesman said the Taliban also killed at least 35 civilians in an attack on a hospital in central Ghor province over the weekend.
The deadly attacks underscore spiralling insecurity in Afghanistan as the resurgent Taliban ramp up their offensive across the country, while security forces struggle to contain them.
In Monday’s blast the bus was carrying employees of the ministry of mines, passing from western Kabul to the downtown ministry during rush hour, Interior Ministry spokesman Najib Danish told AFP.
It was struck by the car bomb as it passed through a busy area of the capital that is home to many Shiite Hazaras, a persecuted ethnic minority.
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.