New Kabul bus bombing leaves 4 dead in Hazara neighbourhood

KABUL -- At least four people were killed and four others injured Thursday (June 3) when a minibus was hit by an explosion in Kabul, police said, in the latest attack on commuters in the Afghan capital.

The blast was the fourth time that terrorists have targeted a bus in the past week.

Police spokesman Ferdows Faramorz said the explosion happened on a road in southwestern Kabul near a neighbourhood largely populated by the Shia Hazara community, which has been the frequent target of militant attacks.

No group has claimed responsibility.

Earlier this week, the Afghan affiliate of the "Islamic State of Iraq and Syria" (ISIS) claimed back-to-back attacks on two buses in western Kabul that killed at least 10 people on Tuesday evening.

Faramorz said at least 10 others had been wounded 10 more, Reuters reported, and announced that police launched an investigation.

On Friday, four people, including two university lecturers, were killed and 11 were wounded when a roadside bomb struck their bus north of Kabul.

The incident occurred when the bus they were riding was hit by an explosive planted on the road in the Parwan provincial capital of Charikar, north of Kabul, Interior Affairs Ministry spokesman Tariq Arian said.

At least two of the dead were lecturers at Al-Beroni University in Kapisa province, said the Higher Education Ministry.

The dean of the university and some students were among the wounded.

Abdullah Abdullah, who heads the country's peace process, condemned the incident, which no group has yet claimed, describing it as a "terrorist attack".

'Inhumane and against Islamic values'

Former President Hamid Karzai strongly condemned the back-to-back Tuesday bus attacks, describing them as inhumane and against Islamic values, the Afghan Times reported Wednesday.

He called on the warring sides to immediately resume peace negotiations and end the bloodshed in the country, and offered his condolences to the families of the victims.

Violence has soared in recent weeks as Afghan forces and the Taliban clash in near-daily battles across the rugged countryside, with the militants appearing to focus on battering checkpoints and bases near Kabul.

The surge in violence comes as the US military continues to withdraw its remaining 2,500 troops from Afghanistan.

Some fear Afghanistan will remain home to a number of extremist groups.

In a report published Wednesday, the United Nations Security Council warned that ISIS continues "to pose a threat to both the country and the wider region", saying the group had approximately 2,000 fighters inside Afghanistan.

But Afghan forces continue to fight back against extremist groups and say they remain committed to doing so.

On Tuesday, the Afghan National Army said it had killed six members of al-Qaeda and eight Taliban militants in an air strike in Nawa district, Helmand province, according to the Afghan Times.

Afghan National Defence and Security Forces (ANDSF) have killed at least 30 al-Qaeda members in recent weeks as part of a response to a surge in Taliban attacks on the Helmand provincial capital of Lashkargah.