KABUL/ISLAMABAD — Pakistan government condemns in the strongest possible terms the inhuman terrorist attack outside an educational center in Dasht-e-Barchi area of Kabul city on Saturday that resulted in loss of innocent lives including children and injuries to many others.

In a statement issued by the spokesman of the Pakistani Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Pakistan condemns terrorism in all its forms and manifestations and will continue to support a peaceful and stable Afghanistan.

Earlier the death toll from the suicide attack Saturday in Kabul was put at 18 killed and 57 people wounded, including students, the Afghanistan Interior Ministry said.

Afghan security officials separately announced on Saturday that a senior Al-Qaida commander had been killed in a recent operation in the country's east.

Interior Ministry spokesman Tariq Arian says that the attacker was trying to enter the center in western Kabul when he was stopped by security guards.

No group claimed immediate responsibility for the bombing. The Taliban rejected any connection with the attack.

An Islamic State affiliate claimed responsibility for a similar suicide attack at an education center in August 2018, in which 34 students were killed.

Within Afghanistan, Daesh (so-called IS) has launched large-scale attacks on minority Shiites, Sikhs and Hindus, whom it views as apostates.

Meanwhile, the Afghan intelligence service said in a tweet that special forces killed Al-Qaida's No. 2 commander for the Indian sub-continent, Abu Mohsin Al-Masri, in a recent operation in eastern Ghazni.

Al-Masri was listed among the most wanted terrorists by the US Department of Justice in 2018. — Agencies