Afghan officials: Suicide bomber kills at least 19 in Kabul

Police officers inspect the site of suicide attack at the Supreme Court in Kabul, Afghanistan, Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2017. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)

KABUL: A suicide bomber on Tuesday targeted the Supreme Court building in the Afghan capital, Kabul, killing at least 19 people, officials said. Ismail Kawasi, the public health ministry spokesman, said 41 people were also wounded in the explosion, which hit near a side door used for court employees to leave the building at the end of the work day. Najib Danish, deputy spokesman for the Interior Ministry, said not all the victims have been identified yet but that an investigation was underway. The attacker was on foot and detonated his suicide vest packed with explosive near the employees and other people as they were coming out of the main court building, Danish added. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack but Taliban insurgents have attacked the top court and its employees in the past, as well as court buildings in the other provinces. The Kabul bombing came hours after a roadside bombing killed the top government official of a district in western Farah province. Taliban spokesman Qari Yusouf Ahmadi said the group claimed responsibility for that attack. A Farah police spokesman, Iqbal Baher, said that Abdul Khaliq, the top official in the Khak-e-Safed district, was on his way home from the mosque when the explosion took place in the city of Farah, the provincial capital. Taliban insurgents frequently use roadside bombs and suicide attacks to target government officials as well as Afghan security forces across the country.