Afghanistan Blasts: 8 Journalists, 11 Children Killed In 3 Suicide Bombings

UPDATE (5:15 a.m. EDT)- In a third consecutive blast in Afghanistan, a suicide bomber targeted a military convoy in Daman district of southern Kandahar province Monday, leaving several children dead.

"The armed militants conducted a suicide attack against a military convoy, probably foreign military convoy in Abdullah village of Daman district at 10:30 a.m. local time today (2 a.m. EDT Monday), killing 11 children and injuring 16 others including nine children and two policemen," the official with provincial police Public Relation Office told Xinhua.

The attack came after the capital of the country was rattled by multiple blasts Monday morning, which killed 29 people, including eight journalists. Officials fear that the death toll may rise.

UPDATE (1:50 a.m. EDT)-According to the Afghanistan health ministry, the death toll in the Kabul blasts has risen to 21 people. French news agency Agence France-Presse (AFP) confirmed that one of its photographers, Shah Marai, was killed in the second blast in Kabul.

The first blast was reported to have taken place at 8 a.m. local time (11:30 p.m. EDT Sunday) and the second blast followed 20 minutes later. TOLOnews reporter Gulabuddin Ghubar who was at the scene of the second explosion, said: “The second blast happened while journalists and cameramen were busy covering the area.”

The second blast occurred outside the headquarters of the Urban Development and Housing Ministry as people were entering the government office to begin their work day, officials told RFERL.

Original story:

Multiple blasts in Shashdarak area close to buildings of the National Directorate of Security (NDS) intelligence service in Kabul, Afghanistan, resulted in several fatalities on Monday.

In the first blast, which killed four people and wounded eight others, the explosive device is said to have been carried into central Kabul by a motorbike. The second blast, which closely followed the first one took place near a group of reporters, killing a journalist and a cameraman and wounding two police officers, the Kansas City Star reported.

Warning: The following photos, showing the aftermath of the blast, might be too graphic for some readers:

The cause of the second blast is unknown although it is being speculated that it was a suicide bombing. No terrorist group has taken responsibility for either blast in Kabul.

According to Kabul Chief of Police Dawood Amin, a number of foreign offices were located at the site of the blast.

Mohammad Mousa Zahir, director of Wazir Akbarkhan Hospital, said several people suffering injuries from the blast were being treated at the hospital.

This is a developing story