At least seven killed in Afghanistan bus bombing

Vehicle carrying oil workers was struck by a blast in Mazar-i-Sharif

Relatives visit Afghan men receiving treatment at a hospital after they were wounded when a roadside bomb hit a bus carrying employees of a petroleum company in Mazar-i- Sharif on December 6, 2022. AFShow more

At least seven people have been killed and six wounded in a bus bombing in northern Afghanistan.

Police confirmed a blast hit a bus carrying oil workers in Balkh's provincial capital, Mazar-i-Sharif.

A roadside bomb placed in a cart detonated as the bus arrived near a city square, said police spokesman Mohammed Asif Wazeri.

The explosion took place around 7 am local time and killed employees of the Hairatan Oil company, Mr Wazeri said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

Six people were wounded later on Tuesday in an explosion near a money exchange market in the eastern city of Jalalabad.

Police said the cause of the blast was not immediately known.

Such attacks are common across the country, particularly since the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan last year.

At least 19 people were killed in an explosion at a religious school in the northern city of Aybak last week.

ISIS, a rival of the Taliban, has claimed responsibility for several attacks.

On Monday, the Taliban said it had arrested an ISIS member for an attack on the Pakistani embassy in Kabul. Officials in Islamabad have said the attack was an attempt to assassinate its head of mission in Afghanistan.

Members of Afghanistan's Shiite community are also routinely targeted in bombings, with attacks on mosques and schools in Hazara neighbourhoods claiming hundreds of lives.