Death toll hits 20 in suicide bomb attack on Afghanistan police

Afghan police said Friday that the death toll from the previous night’s suicide attack in Kabul has jumped to 20, with 27 other policemen wounded.

The attack took place Thursday night in the eastern part of the Afghan capital, where dozens of security officers had congregated to protect a demonstration of shopkeepers that had been held earlier in the day.

First reports immediately after the blast put the death toll at six officers, but police official Jan Agha said that by Friday morning the number had significantly increased.

No one has claimed responsibility for the bombing, but both Taliban militants and the Islamic State’s affiliate in Afghanistan have targeted the country’s security forces in the past.