A bomb explosion claimed by the Daesh terrorist group has killed at least 11 people and injured 25 others in Afghanistan's capital, Kabul, officials say.
The bombing took place on Thursday, when an attacker detonated his explosives near a group of security personnel who were carrying out an operation against illegal drugs and alcohol dealing.
Wahid Majroh, a spokesman for the Ministry of Public Health, denied Daesh claims that the attack had killed and wounded around 80 people.
Interior Ministry spokesman Najib Danish said immediately after the bombing that at least 20 people had lost their lives in the attack.
According to police officers at the scene of the blast, the bomber was hiding his explosive vest under a police or army uniform and was able to get close to the officers undetected.
“Kabul police forces were there to prevent a possible protest when a suicide bomber approached them and detonated his suicide vest,” Kabul police spokesman Bashir Mujahid said.
The attack was carried out about a week after another Daesh-claimed mass killing in Kabul, when a bombing attack on a Shia cultural center and the nearby office of a media outlet killed at least 41 people and wounded more than 80 others.
Daesh has claimed responsibility for a number of similar attacks in Afghanistan over the past two years. The Takfiri group has been seeking to expand its presence in Afghanistan after losing the territories under its control in Iraq and Syria.
Engulfed by long-running violence, many parts of Afghanistan remain plagued by militancy despite the presence of thousands of foreign troops.
In 2001, the United States and its NATO allies invaded the country as part of Washington’s so-called war on terror, but the ongoing occupation has failed to bring peace back to Afghanistan 17 years later.