At least nine people have been killed and six others injured after an attacker blew himself up in a supermarket in the Afghan capital Kabul.
Police and witnesses say the bomber opened fire as soon as he entered the store in the heavily guarded Wazir Akbar Khan area of the city and then detonated explosives attached to his body.
Afghans and foreigners, including two women and a child, are among the dead. There were no reports about the nationalities of the victims.
An officer with the country’s National Directorate of Security said the store’s guards exchanged fire with the attacker for several minutes. Many stores in Kabul have armed guards.
The Finest store, not far from the British Embassy, was frequented by foreigners and affluent Afghans. It was the first major attack on foreigners in Kabul in several months.
The blast left the store ablaze and damaged nearby buildings.
Taliban has claimed responsibility for the attack, saying foreigners were the main target.
“We claim responsibility for the attack, and it was carried out at a time when foreigners were shopping, including the head of a security company,” Reuters quoted Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid as saying.
Militancy is on the rise across Afghanistan despite the presence of over 150,000 US-led foreign troops there. Violence in the war-torn country is at its worst level since the overthrow of the Taliban government in 2001.
Source: Press TV