2nd LD Writethru: 4 dead, 18 injured as bomb hits army bus in Afghanistan

Some four people were killed and 18 army personnel were wounded after a suicide bomber hit an Afghan army bus in the country's northern province of Balkh on Monday morning, an official said.

"Those killed included three army staff and the bomber while 18 army personnel aboard the bus were wounded by the blast," provincial government spokesman, Farhad Muneer, told Xinhua.

The stricken minibus carrying the army members was running near army Corps 209 Shaheen before the bomber detonated his explosive jacket close to the vehicle, the source added.

The attack took place at around 07:45 a.m. local time in Naw Abad locality, Dihdadi district in southwestern outskirts of provincial capital Mazar-i-Sharif, he said.

The injured were shifted to an army hospital in Shaheen Corps where some of the injured remained in critical condition.

The blast also shattered the windowpanes of nearby buildings.

The Taliban militant group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

The Afghan security forces' casualties have risen recently as they have assumed the full security charges from NATO and U.S. forces since January, 2015.

The Taliban-led insurgency has been rampant since April when the militant group launched its annual rebel offensive in different places of the militancy-plagued country which had claimed hundreds of lives including militants, security personnel and civilians. Endit