KABUL: The Taliban claimed responsibility on Thursday for a twin suicide attack targeting a convoy of buses transporting Afghan police cadets in Kabul, which Afghanistan’s interior ministry said killed 30 and wounded 58.

The bloodshed, which was condemned as a “crime against humanity” by President Ashraf Ghani, comes little over a week after 14 Nepalese security guards who were heading to work at the Canadian embassy were killed in a massive blast that left their minibus spattered with blood.

“The convoy of buses transporting newly graduated police was targeted by two suicide attackers in the limits of Kabul province. As a result, 30 police personnel were martyred and 58 more injured,” a statement issued by the interior ministry said.

Sediq Sediqqi, a spokesman for the ministry, said the cadets were returning from a training centre in neighbouring Wardak province and were heading to the capital when targeted on Kabul’s outskirts.

One attacker was on foot and the other was in an explosives-packed car, he said.

Zabihullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the Taliban, claimed responsibility for the attack on behalf of his group.

A reporter said the area had been cordoned off but it appeared that five green police cadet buses had sustained damage, as well as a military Humvee vehicle assigned to escort them.

Twisted metal and glass shards littered the scene as security personnel gathered around the wreckage.

President Ghani said the attack demonstrated the Taliban’s weakness on the battlefield, a statement from his office said.

“This cruel and complete disregard for human life during the holy month of Ramazan is abhorrent,” the US embassy in Kabul added.

The resurgent Taliban have been fighting against the Western-backed Kabul government since they were ousted from power by a US-led invasion in late 2001.

Published in Dawn, July 1st, 2016