10 journalists killed
Death toll in multiple blasts in Afghanistan has gone up to 40, including 11 children and 10 journalists. 65 others were injured in three separate suicide attacks.
According to Afghan health officials, the two blasts went off during rush hour this morning in the Shash Darak area of Kabul.
An interior ministry spokesman said, in the first explosion, a suicide bomber on a motorbike detonated himself close to the National Directorate of Security, killing at least four and injuring five others.
25 people were killed in another explosion that followed 20 minutes later when a second suicide bomber targeted emergency medical workers and journalists who had arrived at the scene.
Media report said, the second suicide bomber was dressed as a journalist. Kabul police spokesman Hashmat Stanekzai confirmed that four policemen were killed, while the Afghan Journalists Safety Committee confirmed that nine journalists who rushed to cover the aftermath of the first explosion were killed in the second blast.
AFP chief photographer in Kabul, Shah Marai, is among the victims. Health Ministry spokesman, Wahid Majroh said the death toll could rise as some of the injured are in critical condition. The Islamic State terrorist group claimed responsibility for the attacks.
Meanwhile, another suicide attack on a foreign military convoy in southern Kandahar province today killed at least 11 children. Provincial police spokesman Qasim Afgha said, 16 others were injured, including foreign and Afghan security forces, when a bomb-laden car exploded in the province.
Kandahar governor spokesman Said Aziz Ahmad Azizi confirmed the casualty toll. He said, five Romanian soldiers and two Afghan police were among the injured. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.