Kabul - Two blasts hit the Afghan
capital Kabul on Monday, killing at least 21 people, including a
photographer for French news agency AFP, but there was no
immediate claim of responsibility, officials said.
The photographer, Shah Marai, was among a group of
journalists caught in the second explosion as they were
reporting on the initial blast.
The attacks came just a week after a blast at a voter
registration centre killed 60 people, in the wake of warnings by
security officials against the risk of increasing attacks ahead
of parliamentary elections planned in October.
Monday's first explosion in the Shashdarak area close to
buildings of the NDS intelligence service was followed by one
outside the ministry of urban development and housing, just as
people were entering the government office.
Four people were killed and five injured in the first
explosion, said Najib Danish, a spokesman for the interior
ministry, adding that authorities had despatched ambulances to
the incident sites.
Soon after, a second explosion took place beside journalists
who had gathered to cover the first blast, killing or wounding a
number of photographers and cameraman, Reuters witnesses said.
Agence France-Presse's chief photographer in Kabul, Shah
Marai, was killed in the blast, the agency confirmed.
A spokesman for the ministry of public health put the total
toll at 21 dead and 27 injured.
Taliban militants, fighting to restore their version of
strict Islamic law to Afghanistan, announced their usual spring
offensive last week and there has been heavy fighting in several
areas of the country since.
Hundreds of people have been killed and wounded in a series
of high-profile attacks in Kabul since the beginning of the
year, despite President Ashraf Ghani's offer in February for
peace talks "without preconditions".