Two Taliban suicide attacks have hit Kabul, one targeting a play at a French-financed school, killing at least seven people just as NATO forces are due to pull out of Afghanistan.
The bombers targeted a bus carrying Afghan troops in the city's suburbs on Thursday morning, and late in the afternoon a theatre performance at the Istiqlal High School, which is attached to Kabul's long-established French cultural centre.
"A suicide bomber blew himself up among the audience in Istiqlal High School," Afghan interior ministry spokesman Sediqi Sediqqi told AFP.
At least seven people were wounded in the attack, senior Kabul police official General Farid Afzail told AFP, adding that the perpetrator is thought to have been a teenager.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed both bombings in separate email statements sent to media.
He said the theatre show was "desecrating Islamic values" and "propaganda against jihad", particularly suicide attacks.
Afzali and the interior ministry said one foreign national was killed, without giving further details.
But French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said the "barbaric" attack had left several people dead.
"I firmly condemn this terrorist act which caused the death of several people and left many injured. There were no French victims," Fabius said in a statement.
French President Francois Hollande condemned the bombing as "heinous" and said it was an assault on "culture and creativity."
In the earlier attack, the bomber who was on foot targeted a bus carrying Afghan troops in Tangi Tarakhil on the outskirts of the capital, Afzail told AFP.
"As a result of the (first) attack, six Afghan army staff were martyred and 10 others were wounded," Afzail said.
Kabul has been hit by a spate of deadly attacks in recent weeks, heightening concerns that Afghanistan could tip into a spiral of violence as the US-led military presence declines.
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