KABUL -- At least 14 people have been killed and 145 wounded after a Taliban suicide car bomber detonated his vehicle outside a police station in Kabul, according to the Afghan Public Health Ministry.
Women and children were among the victims of the attack that occurred at around 9 a.m. local time on August 7, Interior Ministry spokesman Nusrat Rahimi said.
Deputy Interior Minister Khoshal Sadat told reporters that 92 of the wounded were civilians. Four police officers were among those killed, Sadat said.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, which comes amid peace talks between the United States and the Taliban aimed at bringing the nearly 18-year war in Afghanistan to an end.
Sediq Sediqqi, a spokesman for President Ashraf Ghani, told a news conference that continued Taliban attacks showed that the militant group has "no commitment to peace."
The bombing targeted the police District 6 headquarters in Golaee Dawa Khana, a minority Shi'ite neighborhood in western Kabul. A military training school is situated in the same neighborhood.
Eyewitnesses said gunfire could be heard after the explosion that occurred as many Kabul residents were busy preparing for the Muslim holiday Eid al-Adha, which begins on August 11.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid tweeted that the bombing was a response to "crimes" committed by government forces.
Mujahid also said that "positive progress" was being made in the peace talks with U.S. negotiators.
U.S. peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad, who has cited "excellent progress" in the negotiations, tweeted, "Indiscriminate attacks and intentional Injury to civilians are never warranted."
"The focus should be on immediately reducing violence as we move closer to intra-Afghan negotiations that will produce a political roadmap and a permanent ceasefire," Khalilzad wrote in a separate tweet.
Khalilzad has voiced hope that a final agreement could be reached by September 1. But the Taliban continue to refuse to talk to the Kabul government, dismissing it as a U.S. puppet.
The August 7 attack was the 16th to target Kabul this year. At least 113 people have been killed and 732 others have been injured in the attacks.
Also on August 7, a bomb wounded at least eight civilians, including women and children, in the western city of Herat, according to Abdul Ahid Walizada, the provincial police chief's spokesman.
With reporting by Reuters, AP, AFP, dpa, and Tolo News
