KABUL — A truck bomb exploded near an army compound in Kabul on Friday, killing at least 15 people and wounding hundreds, police and government officials said, in the first major attack in the Afghan capital since the Taliban announced a new leader. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the explosion, which wounded people in their sleep and damaged homes and shops. A Taliban spokesman said the group was looking into the incident and the government said an investigation had begun. The blast killed at least 15 people and wounded 248, President Ashraf Ghani's office said. “Last night's attack was a cowardly terrorist attack against civilians,” presidential spokesman Sayed Zafar Hashemi told reporters. Friday's explosion was the first bombing in Kabul since Mullah Akhtar Mansour took charge of the Taliban last week, and followed a rare truck bomb attack in an eastern province on Thursday. n”A truck bomb detonated close to an army compound,” said Kabul police chief Abdul Rahman Rahimi. — Reuters
