Separate bomb attacks kill at least 22 people in Afghanistan

Afghanistan: At least 20 people have been killed in separate bomb attacks in Afghanistan on Monday, including 14 other people in Afghan capital, Kabul who were killed when a suicide bomber struck a minibus carrying Nepalese security contractors, said officials.

Kabul police chief Abdul Rahman Rahimi said the security contractors were struck by the suicide bomber who waited close to the compound housing the contractors as their vehicle moved through traffic. He added that Victims of the attacks seems to include Afghan civilians and Nepalese security contractors.

Few hours after the first attack, a bomb planted in a motorbike killed at least eight people leaving 18 other people injured in a crowded market place in the northern province of Badakhshan, said government spokesman Naveed Frotan.

Afghanistan Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said on Twitter that 14 people had been killed and eight wounded in the attack in Kabul. Police were working to identify the victims, he added.

The Taliban had claimed responsibility for the attack in Kabul through its spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid, on Twitter.