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Today's Paper | December 23, 2024

Updated 04 Jan, 2016 01:01pm

Suicide bomber strikes near Kabul airport: officials

KABUL: A suicide bomber on foot Monday struck a street leading to Kabul's international airport, officials said, the latest in a wave of attacks on the Afghan capital.

"The bomber detonated his suicide vest... near Kabul airport. There is no immediate information on casualties," interior ministry spokesman Najib Danish told AFP.

The bomber was spotted by police as his car approached the checkpoint, prompting him to detonate his explosives, a police spokesman said.

Danish said the target was a foreign forces convoy passing through the area but a police spokesman said he was not aware of that.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.

The blast follows a series of attacks in the Afghan capital over recent days, including a suicide attack on a restaurant popular with foreigners and wealthy Afghans which killed a 12 year-old boy and a security guard.

This is the second attack near Kabul airport within the past month and comes as Afghan forces battle to end an hours-long siege on the Indian consulate in Mazar-i-Sharif.

The attacks have coincided with a new effort to restart peace talks with the Taliban after earlier meetings were broken off last July.

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