KABUL
A high-ranking security official was killed when a suicide bomber detonated his explosives meters from the office of the police chief in Afghanistan's capital city of Kabul on Sunday.
One police officer and seven others were injured in the attack, confirmed by the targeted police chief General Zahir Zahir.
“The explosion was in the third floor of Kabul police headquarters and next room to my office this morning at 9 a.m. local time. The suicide attack was carried out by an individual in police uniform,” Zahir told reporters, adding that his chief of staff Colonel Mohammad Yaseen, was killed.
The compound which also houses Kabul’s provincial government, courts and other government institutions, has a heavy concentration of government officials.
“It was a coordinated attack. Further investigation is carried out and CCTV records are under surveillance,” said Zahir.
The Ministry of Public Health's spokesman Kanishka Turkistani said one child was among the injured taken to hospital.
The compound has been fortified against external attacks with concrete barriers and is guarded by police.
The attacker reached a point where the police chief usually holds meetings with local and foreign advisers, despite several screening points that usually must be passed on the way.
The incident at the police headquarters came two hours after a roadside bomb targeted soldiers in the east of capital Kabul.
“The explosion had targeted Afghan National Army bus this morning at 7 a.m. local time in the police district eight of Kabul city, but fortunately there were no causalities,” said Ministry of Defense spokesman General Zahir Azimi.
Taliban militants used Twitter to take responsibility for both attacks, claiming the attack on the police headquarters was targeting a meeting with foreign advisers.
Taliban militants have intensified their activities since the Afghan government security agreements with the United States and NATO, whose combat forces are preparing to withdraw from Afghanistan at the end of the year.
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