At least 12 others were injured in the explosion, which targeted a group of people waiting outside a bank in the city center.

At least three people were killed and 12 others injured in a suicide attack outside a bank in the Afghan city of Kandahar, according to local police and officials.

The ISIL group (ISIS) claimed responsibility for the attack on Thursday on its Telegram channel.

The explosion at around 8:00 a.m. (03:30 GMT) targeted a group of people waiting outside the New Kabul Bank branch in the center of Kandahar city.

Local police and Taliban officials said three people were killed and 12 were injured. A source at a major hospital in the southern city said the number of victims was much higher, AFP news agency reported.

“Since this morning, 20 people have been killed in the explosion at Mirwais Hospital,” the source told AFP on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals for speaking to the media.

Inamullah Samangani, director of information and culture for Kandahar province, said the bank was busy collecting people’s salaries when the explosion exploded.

“Usually our compatriots gather there to collect their salaries,” he said, adding that the “victims were civilians.”

One of the victims, Khalil Ahmad, a father of eight in his 40s, went to the bank to collect his salary, his nephew said at his funeral later on Thursday.

“He was just an ordinary, simple guy; He used to work as a painter,” Mohammad Shafiq Saraaj said as Ahmad’s relatives gathered around his body, wrapped in a white cloth, for the funeral.

“Such incidents happened under the previous government… and they are happening now,” Saraaj said.

“We ask that security in the country and especially in crowded places be properly maintained and that our nation be saved from a tragedy of this kind.”

‘Under control’

After the explosion, Taliban authorities surrounded the area outside the bank and did not allow media workers to approach the site.

Samangani said on Thursday morning that “the situation was under control” at one of the city’s hospitals where the wounded were transported, denying that there was an urgent need for blood donations, as was circulated on social media.

“There is no such problem and the wounded are not in a serious condition; They have superficial injuries,” he said in a message to reporters.

Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada lives in Kandahar, the country’s second largest city.

The number of bombings and suicide attacks in Afghanistan has fallen significantly since the Taliban came to power in August 2021 and toppled the US-backed government.

However, a number of armed groups – including ISIL’s regional group – continue to pose a threat.

Several explosions have been reported in Afghanistan since the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan on March 11, but few have been confirmed by Taliban officials.

The US chargé d’affaires for Afghanistan, Karen Decker, condemned “all acts of terrorism” in a post on

“Afghans should be able to observe Ramadan peacefully and without fear,” she said.

The ISIL regional branch has in the past specifically targeted Shiite Muslims, whom it considers heretics, but is also a rival to the Taliban.