Taliban claim bomb attack on police in Afghanistan; nearly 100 wounded

KABUL - A suicide attacker detonated a car-bomb outside a police station in the Afghan capital Kabul on Wednesday wounding at least 95 people, government officials said, and the Taliban claimed responsibility.

The blast, in the west of the city during the morning rush hour, sent a huge cloud of grey smoke billowing into the sky.

The Taliban said a "recruitment center" had been attacked by one of their suicide bombers.

"A large number of soldiers and police were killed or wounded," the Taliban said in a statement.

Government security officials said they were searching the scene and expected to update casualty details later.

The bomb went off when a vehicle was stopped at a checkpoint outside the police station, said interior ministry spokesman Nasrat Rahimi.

A health ministry spokesman said 95 wounded people had been taken to hospitals. Most of them were civilians, including women and children, he said.

"Again a Taliban suicide attack in Kabul targets a civilian area that resulted in harming of so many innocents," Sediq Sediqqi, a spokesman for President Ashraf Ghani, said on Twitter.

The blast came a day after the Taliban called for a boycott of a Sept 28 presidential election and threatened to attack election rallies.

Reuters