Twin bombings in Afghanistan’s capital kill 38

KABUL, Afghanistan — An Afghan official says the death toll from twin bombings in Kabul has climbed to 38, with civilians and military personnel among those killed.

Mohibullah Zeer, an official in the Public Health Ministry, says another 72 people were wounded in the attack.

Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi says a suicide bomber struck first, followed by a car bomb, adding that four police officers are among those killed.

The Taliban, which is waging a 15-year war against the U.S.-backed government, claimed responsibility for the attack.

Ghulam Faroq Naziri, a lawmaker from the western Herat province, said another MP from the same province, Rahima Jami, was wounded.

Earlier in the day, a suicide bomber on foot struck in the southern Helmand province, killing at least seven people, said Gen. Agha Noor Kemtoz, the provincial police chief. The target of the attack was a guesthouse used by a provincial intelligence official in Lashkar Gah, the provincial capital, he said.

Those killed include civilian and military personnel, and six others were wounded in the attack, Kemtoz said. A car full of explosives was found nearby.

No one claimed responsibility for the Helmand attack, but it bore the hallmarks of the Taliban.