KABUL (Dispatches) – A Taliban bomber killed at least three people and wounded 27 on Wednesday when he set off explosives in a truck near a police headquarters in Afghanistan, officials said.
A Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, confirmed in a statement that the militants had used a large truck, packed with explosives in the attack in the eastern province of Laghman.
Assadullah Dawlatzai, a spokesman for the provincial governor, said among the wounded were 20 children studying in a religious school.
"The explosion was huge,” Dawlatzai said.
The number of casualties may rise as rescuers searched through the ruins of buildings destroyed by the blast.
"We with the rescue teams are still looking for bodies under the rubble,” said Obaidullah, a resident of the area.
The attack came during a relative lull in violence after a presidential election last month that saw a surge in attacks by the Taliban, who denounced the vote as a sham.
The United Nations said 85 civilians were killed in election-related Taliban violence.
The incident comes as the country is awaiting the results of the first round of presidential voting, which took place last month.
Talks between the militant group and the White House collapsed earlier last month in Qatar’s capital, Doha.
The United States and its allies invaded Afghanistan to remove a Taliban regime in 2001.
According to the United Nations, nearly 4,000 civilians were killed or wounded in militant attacks in the first half of 2019.