Blasts hit Afghan buses, at least seven hurt

AFGHANISTAN: Bombs hit two buses taking Afghan government workers to their ministries in the capital, Kabul, on Wednesday and at least seven people were wounded, government officials said.

Violence by Taliban insurgents has surged in Afghanistan this year to its worst level since the militants were ousted in 2001 but most of the bloodshed has been in the south and east.

Attacks in Kabul are rare.

An Afghan army bus was hit by an explosion in the centre of the capital as it was travelling to the Ministry of Defence.

"Three Ministry of Defence workers were wounded," said army officer Mohammad Omar Zadran. "There were some civilian casualties too."

A security official said a push cart had exploded as the bus was passing.

The bus veered off the road after the blast and it and some small shops were on fire, a Reuters reporter at the scene said.

A young man with cuts on his face, Khoja Mohammad, said the blast had gone off just as he left his house.

He said several people on the bus and several passers-by had been hurt.

In the north of the city, a Commerce Ministry bus was hit by a similar blast, said Interior Ministry spokesman Yousuf Stanizai.

"A cart blew up and four Commerce Ministry employees were wounded," Stanizai said. Explosives packed in a street vending cart blew up near the Justice Ministry in central Kabul on Tuesday, wounding more than six. Kabul, Wednesday, Reuters.