Afghan police say the death toll from the previous night’s suicide attack in Kabul has jumped to 20, with another 27 policemen wounded.
The attack took place in the eastern part of the Afghan capital where dozens of security officers had congregated to protect a demonstration of shopkeepers that had been held earlier in the day following the death of a shopkeeper during a police operation targeting alcohol and bootleggers, an unnamed official had said.
A suicide attacker blew himself up near the crowd of police and protesters, killing at least 11 people and wounding 25 others, officials said, in the latest deadly violence to bring carnage to the Afghan capital.
Initial reports immediately after the blast put the death toll at six officers but police official Jan Agha said that by Friday morning, the number of those killed had significantly increased.
No one has so far claimed responsibility for the bombing but both Taliban insurgents and the militant Islamic State group’s affiliate in Afghanistan have targeted the country’s security forces in the past.
The Afghan capital has become one of the deadliest places in war-torn Afghanistan for civilians in recent months.