At least 29 people were killed and another 52 were wounded in the attack.

One person has died in a clash at Kabul University where people were marking the Shiite holy day of Ashoura, Afghan police said.

An assassin yesterday shot dead a former high-ranking Taliban official working on reconciling Afghanistan’s insurgency with the government — a fresh blow to peace efforts on the day Kabul announced it was gradually taking the lead from the US-led coalition for providing security in much of the country.

Afghanistan’s top human rights group said today that it is investigating whether white phosphorous was used in a US-Taliban battle in which scores of people were killed.