At least 19 dead in suicide bombing targeting Afghan Supreme Court

At least 19 people were killed as a suicide bomber on foot set off his explosives at the entrance of the Afghan Supreme Court in Kabul as employees left for home on Tuesday, an official said. "Kabul ambulances have transported 41 injured people to hospitals around the city," Wahidullah Majroh, a spokesman for the Afghan […]

At least 19 people were killed as a suicide bomber on foot set off his explosives at the entrance of the Afghan Supreme Court in Kabul as employees left for home on Tuesday, an official said.

"Kabul ambulances have transported 41 injured people to hospitals around the city," Wahidullah Majroh, a spokesman for the Afghan Health Ministry, said.

Abdul Jamil, a resident of the area, said he had brought his son to a pharmacy nearby when, "A strong boom shook to store and all the medicine on the shelves fell down." Jamil added that panicked people ran out of shops and down the road.

No group, including the Taliban, has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.

Taliban militants regularly attack courts and members of the justice system in Afghanistan as they want to see the country under sharia only.

According to the United Nations annual report on the protection of civilians in armed conflict that was published on Monday, there were 16 attacks directed at judges, prosecutors and judicial staff last year. 

In one incident, five people were killed and 19 others were wounded after Taliban gunmen attacked a courthouse in Afghanistan’s central Logar province early in June 2106. (DPA)