KABUL - The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) condemns in the strongest terms today’s attack against civilian government workers in the capital, Kabul, which killed at least 17 civilians and injured 40.

Initial reports indicate that a suicide attacker detonated a vehicle packed with explosives in the parking lot of the city’s Supreme Court building, next to three shuttle buses transporting civilian court employees to their homes in the afternoon. It appears that the attack was specifically targeted to harm a large number of these government staff members during the busiest time of day for civilian traffic in a crowded urban location. The Taliban have reportedly claimed responsibility.

Today's incident follows a series of attacks against civilian Afghan judicial officials elsewhere in the country, most notably the Taliban's attack against the provincial court in the western province of Farah, on 3 April this year, in which 33 civilians were killed and 105 were wounded.

“Today’s deplorable terrorist attack in an area densely populated with Afghan civil servants was clearly intended to kill and harm as many civilians as possible,” said the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan, Ján Kubiš. “This brutal attack against Afghan people is unacceptable and it highlights the terrible toll that the on-going conflict in Afghanistan is exacting on civilians – I call for an immediate end to such premeditated attacks."

UNAMA emphasizes that the deliberate targeting of civilians is a violation of international humanitarian law and may amount to war crimes.

UNAMA extends its condolences to the families of all of those killed in the attacks and wishes a speedy recovery for the injured.