Afghanistan: At least 12 people killed in Kabul blasts near funeral

A series of blasts in Kabul on Saturday killed at least 12 people at a funeral for one of the victims of clashes between police and protesters a day before, continuing a wave of violence in the capital since this week’s mass truck bomb.

Two witnesses at the scene of the funeral said at least 12 people had been killed. Tolo News TV and other Afghan media reported a toll as high as 18. A further 18 people were reported to have been wounded.

Government Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah was at the funeral but was unharmed, a statement from his office said. Several senior security officials had been wounded.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

The Taliban, which has often carried out bomb attacks in the past, issued a swift denial that it had any role and instead blamed factional rivalries in the government’s own camp, the group’s spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said.

The explosions occurred at the funeral for Mohammad Salim Izadyar, the son of the deputy Senate speaker. He died after being seriously injured in clashes during Friday’s protest.

Demonstrators had been protesting against the government over its security record following the explosion of a huge truck bomb that killed more than 80 people and wounded 460.

The truck bomb on Wednesday was one of the deadliest attacks in Kabul since the US-led campaign that toppled the Taliban in 2001.