Suicide bombing causes multiple deaths near school checkpoint in Kabul

Six people were killed near a police checkpoint at a school in the Afghanistan capital

Afghan security forces keep watch after a suicide bomb attack near a school in central Kabul, Afghanistan, on November 12, 2018. Reuters

A suicide bomber killed six people and wounded 20 more in Kabul, Afghanistan's capital, on Monday.

The attacker detonated his suicide vest close to a police checkpoint near a school in central Kabul, the same area as the finance and justice ministries and close to the presidential palace.

ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack in Pashtunistan Square, in the city centre. The extremist group has a small but potent presence in the country.

Police spokesman Basir Mujahid said he was about 20 metres away from the blast. A nearby demonstration had ended about 30 minutes before the suicide bomb attack.

"I took four bodies away but there were more on the ground," he said.

Hundreds of demonstrators gathered in Kabul to protest the government's failure to prevent attacks by Taliban militants in two of the country's provinces.

Afghan security forces suffered scores of casualties in heavy fighting at the weekend with Taliban militants in the provinces of Ghazni and Herat, officials said.

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