As the new president of Afghanistan was being sworn in on Monday, Sept. 29, a bomb exploded near the Kabul airport, Reuters is reporting.
Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai, a former professor at Johns Hopkins University in Maryland, has become the new president of Afghanistan. But despite a new era of rule beginning, the violence preceding and during the presidential campaign continues.
Today’s explosion is believed to have been caused by a homicide bomber who detonated at a security checkpoint just outside the airport in Kabul. It is too early for confirmation of casualties, but witnesses reported seeing dead bodies, according to the Reuters report.
This past July the Taliban claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing outside the Kabul airport, just a month after the runoff elections between Ghani and his opponent, Abdullah Abdullah. An earlier attempted attack was thwarted by Afghan security.