Suicide attack near Kabul airport leaves 10 dead or wounded: officials

A suicide bomber killed or wounded at least 10 people at the entrance to Kabul international airport today, officials said, as scores gathered to welcome home Afghan Vice President Abdul Rashid Dostum from exile.

Senior government officials, political leaders and supporters were leaving the airport after greeting the powerful ethnic Uzbek leader and former warlord when the explosion happened.

Dostum, clad in a Western suit and sunglasses and travelling in an armoured vehicle, was unharmed, said his spokesman Bashir Ahmad Tayanj.

"We can confirm 10 people have been killed or wounded in the explosion caused by a suicide attacker on foot," said interior ministry spokesman Najib Danish, without giving a breakdown.

He said civilians including a child and security force members were among the casualties.

Dostum, who is linked to a catalogue of human rights abuses in Afghanistan, was mobbed like a celebrity as he left the chartered plane from Turkey where he has lived since May 2017.

His return, which has been the subject of much speculation, comes amid violent protests in several provinces across northern Afghanistan, his traditional power base.

Thousands of Dostum's supporters have taken to the streets in recent weeks, shuttering election and government offices and blocking sections of highways to demand the release of a pro-government militia leader and call for Dostum's return.

Expectations of the return did little to quell the unrest, with protesters vowing Sunday to continue demonstrating until the burly leader of the Uzbek ethnic minority tells them otherwise.

"We don't trust the government. We will continue our protests unless General Dostum tells us to stop," Ehsanullah Qowanch, a protest leader in Faryab province, told AFP.

Qowanch also repeated calls for the release of Nezamuddin Qaisari - a district police chief and Dostum's provincial representative in Faryab - whose arrest earlier this month ignited the protests.

Another protester, Massoud Khan, said: "We have been on the streets for 20 days now. We are not going to stop our protests unless our demands are met."