Afghanistan: Bus blast kills three university staff
- Published
Afghan security forces are struggling against a rising wave of violence ahead of the US troop withdrawal in September
At least three teachers have died and 15 more people have been wounded after a roadside bomb hit a bus carrying university staff in Afghanistan.
Professors and staff from Al-Biruni university were travelling through Charikar, the capital of Parwan province, about 70km (43 miles) north of the capital Kabul.
No group has claimed responsibility.
Afghanistan has seen increasing violence in recent weeks as the US and Nato prepare to withdraw all troops.
The deadline for the withdrawal is 11 September - 20 years to the day since the attack on the World Trade Center in New York. In the months which followed, the US and its allies invaded Afghanistan, forcing the Taliban - a hardline Islamist movement - from power and beginning an almost two-decade long war.
Saturday's blast happened at around 15:15 local time (10:45 GMT), Bagram police reportedly said.
A spokesman for the ministry of higher education said some of the wounded teachers are in a critical condition. The university's chancellor was also reportedly injured in the attack.
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US and Nato officials have recently said that the Taliban has so far failed to live up to commitments to reduce violence in Afghanistan. The group has denied the allegation.
Earlier in May Taliban militants captured a district near Kabul, the second district in a week to fall to the group. The Islamic State group are also active in the country.
Saturday's attack comes just weeks after blasts close to a secondary school in Kabul killed at least 60 people and injured more than 100.
Students were killed as they left their classrooms. Most of the victims were girls.
On Tuesday Australia announced it was closing its embassy in Afghanistan due to the "increasingly uncertain security environment" in the country.
Tens of thousands of Afghan soldiers have been killed and injured. This 2019 video tells their story.
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