By Shadi Khan Saif and Sayed Khodaberdi Sadat

KABUL, Afghanistan (AA): The death toll in a suicide car bomb attack in central Maidan Wardak province has risen to 120, an official said on Monday.

Sharifullah Hotak, a member of the Maidan Wardak provincial council, told local media the death toll — which includes personnel of the Afghan special forces — rose to 50. However, Provincial council member Nafisa Selai Wardak said at least 126 members were killed in the attack

Earlier Nusrat Rahimi, deputy spokesman for the Ministry of Interior, told Anadolu Agency the attack took place at around 8 a.m. local time (0330GMT) and the target was a facility of National Directorate of Security, the country’s spy agency.

Rahimi said security forces managed to kill the two terrorists who wished to wage armed assault after the bombing.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahed claimed responsibility for the attack.

The Taliban claimed more than 100 security officers were killed in the attack.

Afghan president, Ashraf Ghani’s spokesperson said the “enemies of the country” had carried out an attack against NDS personnel in Maidan Shahr, the provincial capital. “They killed and wounded a number of our beloved and honest sons,” he said.

Maidan Wardak province is situated less than 50 kilometers (31 miles) south of the capital of Kabul.

This is the second suicide car bombing in two days indicating an evident surge in the Taliban’s onslaughts amid the stalled peace process.

A day earlier, the Taliban claimed responsibility for a similar car bombing aimed at the convoy of a provincial governor in Logar province that killed at least eight security forces.

Additional report by The Muslim News

[Photo: Afghan security officers secure the area of a collapsed building of National Directorate of Security after suicide bombing in central Maidan Wardak province, Afghanistan on January 21, 2019. Photographer: Haroon Sabawoon/AA]