A suicide attacker detonated a car-bomb at a security checkpoint outside a police station in a Shiite neighborhood in western Kabul on Wednesday in the morning rush hour, wounding dozens of people, Afghan officials said.

The Taliban group claimed responsibility for the bombing, saying they had targeted a recruitment center for security forces.

The attack came in the morning after a tense night across Kabul, with explosions heard in several parts of the city past midnight, a day after the Taliban called for the boycott of a presidential election scheduled to take place on September 28 and threatened to attack election rallies which “could become potential targets”.

A Taliban official on Tuesday said differences had been resolved over the withdrawal of US occupation troops from Afghanistan and guarantees from the insurgents that they will cut ties with other extremist groups, especially ISIL, who mainly targets Hazara community. But the Taliban have continued to sideline the Kabul government, dismissing it as a US puppet and refusing to negotiate with it.

Despite the negotiations, terror attacks still target civilians across Afghanistan.

According to the United Nations, more than 1500 civilians were killed or wounded in the Afghan conflict in July alone, the highest monthly casualties so far this year and the worst single month since May 2017.

Source: Agencies