Death toll of Kabul car bombing rises to 15

The death toll of a deadly truck bombing in Afghan capital of Kabul has risen to 15, an official said on Friday.

"The latest figures showed 15 innocent civilians were killed as a result of the coward attack in Kabul at wee hours of Friday," deputy to Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Gahni's spokesman, Sayyed Zafar Hashimi, told reporters.

He said 240 civilians, including 47 women and three children, were wounded by the blast which took place at around 01:00 a.m. Friday in a populated area.

The Afghan president appointed a special delegation to thoroughly investigate the incident, according to Hashimi.

The Friday's attack was the deadliest since the announcement of Taliban former leader Mullah Mohammad Omar's death late last month.

While no group has claimed responsibility for the incident, Hashimi said that "it was a coward act and that the attack was aimed at driving attention away from differences in the enemy's ranks."

A rift has taken place in the rank of Taliban leadership after the mysterious death of the armed outfit's reclusive leader Mullah Mohammad Omar and appointment of Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansoor as the new leader of the Afghan Taliban by the outfit's leadership.

Earlier reports said that eight people were killed and 400 others sustained injuries as a result of the massive blast. Endi