Suicide bomber in Afghanistan kills three

MAZAR-I-SHARIF: At least three people were killed and 14 wounded on Monday when a suicide bomber attacked a bus filled with Afghan army personnel in northern Afghanistan, officials said.

The blast occurred just before 8 a.m. in Dehdadi district, not far from the Balkh provincial capital of Mazar-i-Sharif, according to a statement by the Ministry of Defense.

The ministry put the number of wounded at eight, while Munir Ahmad Farhad, a spokesman for the Balkh provincial governor, said that 14, including three women, had been injured.

The bomber detonated a suicide vest near the bus as it was carrying members of the army´s 209th Shaheen Corps, and all of the reported casualties were army employees, Farhad said.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the bombing in a statement released online.

The statement named a resident of Wardak province, which neighbours the Afghan capital city of Kabul, as the attacker.