Afghan Vice-President Abdul Rashid Dostum narrowly escaped a suicide bomb attack at Kabul airport as he returned home Sunday from more than a year in exile in Turkey over allegations of torturing and abusing a political rival.
Dostum had left the airport in a motorcade only minutes before the explosion.
Interior Ministry spokesman Najib Danish said, as many as 11 people were killed and 14 injured in the blast.
Kabul police spokesman said the blast went off near the main airport entrance, where supporters had been waiting to greet Dostum as his motorcade passed on its way to the city centre. The number of casualties may rise.
Dostum faced outrage from Western countries including the United States, after reports in 2016 that his guards had seized political rival Ahmad Eshchi and subjected him to beatings, torture and violent sexual abuse.
He denied Eshchi’s accusations but, amid international demands that he be held accountable, he left the country in May last year, ostensibly to seek medical treatment in Turkey.
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