Press TV - A bomb attack left 12 people dead and dozens wounded outside a voter registration center in the Afghan capital, Kabul.

The explosion took place on Sunday morning at the doorway of an identity card distribution and voter registration center in Kabul’s Dasht-e-Barchi area.

Kabul’s acting police chief, Mohammad Daoud Amin, said the attack had been carried out by an individual wearing an explosive-laden vest.

The assailant attacked the center while officials were issuing identity cards as part of a process of registering voters for parliamentary elections later this year.

Interior Ministry spokesman Najib Danesh said the assailant had approached the offices on foot.

Pictures apparently of the immediate aftermath of the blast that were shared on social media showed bodies, including those of women, lying on the ground and cars partially destroyed by the blast.

Voter registration centers have been set up across Afghanistan ahead of long-delayed parliamentary and district council elections due to be held in October, and there had been serious concerns that militants might attack them.

Afghanistan’s Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah condemned the Sunday attack on Twitter.


[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="555"] Afghans are seen at the bombing site outside a voter registration center in Kabul, Afghanistan, on April 22, 2018. (Photo by AFP)[/caption]
It was the fourth attack in less than a week targeting election centers.

On Tuesday, unknown armed men attacked a voter registration center in Ghor Province. On Thursday, unknown gunmen attacked two police force members in Jalalabad City who were guarding a voter registration center. And a voter registration center in Qala-e-Naw was attacked on Friday.

Taliban militants denied involvement in the Sunday blast.

Dasht-e Barchi in western Kabul is mainly inhabited by members of the Muslim Shia Hazara minority, who have been targeted regularly by both the Taliban and the Takfiri Daesh terrorists.