DUBAI, March 21. /TASS/. At least 19 people have been killed and more than 20 injured in an explosion at a branch of New Kabul Bank in the city of Kandahar in southern Afghanistan, Iran’s Tasnim news agency reported, citing local sources.

According to them, the injured have been taken to Mirwais Regional Hospital in Kandahar and are receiving the necessary assistance.

An Interior Ministry spokesman in the government formed by the radical Taliban movement (outlawed in Russia) confirmed the fact of the explosion to Ariana News, but did not disclose details of the incident. A Kandahar security spokesman told Tolo News that the attack on the bank branch was carried out by a suicide bomber. According to him, three people were killed and 12 others wounded in the attack.

On Thursday morning, Afghanistan’s Tolo News TV channel reported that an explosion was heard at the New Kabul Bank branch in Kandahar city. According to the Hasht-e Subh newspaper's sources, the explosion occurred as Taliban members gathered outside the bank to collect their salaries.