KABUL, July 7 (Xinhua) -- A deadly suicide car bomb for which the Taliban claimed responsibility struck eastern Afghanistan's Ghazni provincial capital the Ghazni city on Sunday, leaving six dead and injuring more than 180 others, mostly civilians including school students, provincial governor's spokesman Aref Nuri confirmed.
This is the second deadly blast in Ghazni over the past three days, taking place amid efforts to push for national reconciliation and bring about peace in Afghanistan.
Sunday's bloody bombing coincided with the initiation of intra-Afghan talks in Qatar's capital Doha with the presence of a 17-member negotiating team from Taliban.
Nuri said six people, including two security personnel and four civilians, were killed and 186 others, including nine security personnel and 177 civilians including children and school students sustained injuries in the deadly blast amid ongoing intra-Afghan talks in Doha.
Nuri also said that 60 residential houses and four markets had been utterly destroyed or badly damaged due to the blast.
Locals said the number of those killed in the blast was more than the figure reported.
Baz Mohammad Humat, head of Ghazni's provincial health department, told Xinhua that 75 injured people including 30 students had been taken to hospital for medical treatment.
The deadly bombing in Ghazni has evoked widespread condemnation in the militancy-battered country.
Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani, in a statement released by his office after the blast, strongly denounced it as a "cowardly" terrorist attack, saying the "Taliban won't get any concessions by targeting civilians especially children" in the peace talks.
"Killing civilians is a crime against humanity, if the Taliban wants to secure upper hands at the expected talks with the government, it should win the hearts of Afghans by pursuing peace loving instead of creating hatred," Nematullah, a Kabul resident, told Xinhua.
