Video footage shared with reporters by security officials showed the bodies of the women and a child lying on the road in the eastern part of city as bystanders tried to help the wounded. Health officials said at least 20 people were taken to hospital by civilians, some on wheelbarrows. A second bomb exploded on a road parallel to the site of the bus attack, killing five people and injuring police who were trying to manage the traffic after the first blast.
Islamic State claimed responsibility for the two attacks. The third blast, about three km away, wounded at least 17 civilians. The Taliban claimed responsibility. The Taliban, fighting to restore strict Islamic law after their 2001 ouster at the hands of US-led troops, said their fighters had used a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device to kill nine foreign forces and destroy two vehicles.
On Wednesday, a Croatian soldier serving in Afghanistan was killed and two were seriously wounded in a suicide attack on their convoy outside Kabul, Afghan interior ministry officials said the Taliban have killed or wounded more than 1,000 civilians since April, including more than 150 children.