Taliban claims deadly twin bomb attack on Afghan forces

According to Ministry of Health spokesman Ismail Kawosi, the confirmed death toll stood at 24, with at least 91 others wounded.

The attacks came at a tense time in the Afghan capital, as the country’s president and chief executive work to hash out their differences ahead of this month’s deadline to enact a set of required changes, part of a power-sharing agreement brokered two years ago by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry.

Earlier, during rush hour, a suicide bomber blew himself up in the centre of the city, while another bomb was detonated remotely just beforehand, local media reported.

Salim Rasouly, the director of Kabul Hospital, told CBS News’ Mukhtar Ahmad that five dead bodies had been brought into the facility from the scene of the attack.

The commander of US and North Atlantic Treaty Organisation forces in Afghanistan, General John Nicholson, said last week that more than 900 Afghan soldiers and police personnel were killed in July alone.

The attacks followed a Kabul police announcement earlier in the day that Afghan officials last week had captured four suicide bombers who were attempting to carry out attacks in Kabul. Senior police investigator Faredoon Obiadi said the suicide attacker was wearing a military uniform.

Taliban spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahed, tweeted that the group carried out the attacks.

Another official said the deputy head of President Ashraf Ghani’s personal protection force had also been killed.

After a lull following the death of former leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour in a USA drone strike in May, the Taliban have stepped up their campaign against the Western-backed government in Kabul, putting security forces under pressure.

Terror attacks are all too common in Afghanistan, with the Taliban claiming responsibility for most of the attacks.

No group has admitted responsibility and their whereabouts are still unknown.

“When the first explosion happened people crowded to the site and then the second blast occurred, which was really powerful and killed lots of people”, said Samiullah Safi, who witnessed the attack.