9 dead in Kabul attack targeting MP

Mohammad Wardak survived the blast but is among 20 injured, including children

Afghan security personnel inspect the site of a bombing attack in Kabul, Afghanistan on Sunday.

A car bombing in Kabul targeting an Afghan lawmaker killed at least nine people, officials said.

Lawmaker Khan Mohammad Wardak survived the blast but is among 20 injured, including women and children, Afghan Interior Minister Massoud Andarabi said.

It is unclear whether the explosive was planted in a car parked on the lawmaker’s route or if a vehicle with the bomb was being driven by a bomber, Mr. Andarabi added.

No one has claimed responsibility for the blast.

Afghanistan has seen a sharp rise in violence, particularly bombings, in recent weeks as the Afghan government and Taliban hold talks to find an end to the country’s almost 20-year-longwar.

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Separate bombings were also reported on Sunday in the provinces of Logar, Nangarhar, Helmand and Badakhshan, in which a number of civilians and security forces members were killed and injured.

On Friday, a suspected rickshaw bomb blast killed at least15 civilians, including 11 children, in central Ghazni province.

The Interior Ministry  said that theTaliban had killed 487 civilians and injured 1,049 others bycarrying out 35 suicide attacks and 507 blasts in across the country over the past three months.