31 killed, 54 injured in suicide bomb blast in Afghan capital

KABUL - The death toll from a suicide attack in the Afghan capital of Kabul has risen to 31 with 54 others wounded after a suicide bomb blast ripped through an election-related registering site in western neighborhood of Kabul, capital of Afghanistan on Sunday, a spokesman of Interior Ministry said.

"Our latest figures found that nine civilians were killed and 56 civilians injured in Sunday morning's suicide blast," spokesman Najib Danish tweeted.

The blast occurred at around 10:00 am local time in front of a local school where a voter registration site is located in Qala-e-Nazir area of Dashti Barchi vicinity in Police District 6 of the city.

Several people were near the building for registering to get voting cards before the blast. The branch also distributes national identification cards (IDs) for voters, who did not hold IDs.

The Afghan election officials have slated Oct 20 as the date for the upcoming parliamentary and district councils elections, which has been delayed for a couple of times over the past years.

First parliamentary election in the post-Taliban Afghanistan was held in 2005 while the second parliamentary polls took place in 2010.

However, the 2015 parliamentary polls, originally set to be held in early 2015 following presidential elections, were repeatedly delayed.

The voter registration process started on April 14 for the polls.

The voters will cast their ballots to elect members of the 249-seat lower house of parliament for a five-year term while they will also vote for the district councils.