Kabul suicide bombing: Taliban attack kills eleven in Afghan capital during morning rush hour

Minibus carrying judiciary employees hit during revenge attack in the outskirts of the city

The demolished minibus was towed away by police following the fatal attack (Getty Images)

Eleven people were killed when a Taliban suicide bomber targeted rush hour traffic in Kabul today, including a bus full of judiciary department employees.

The minibus was hit as the bomber approached it in the western outskirts of the Afghan capital at around 8.30am, detonating an explosives vest.

The vehicle was on its way to the local courthouse in Maidan Wardak province, where the staff worked, when the terrorist struck in the district of Bagh-e-Dawood.

A spokesman for the Interior Ministry confirmed that a further four civilians had suffered critical injuries in the blast.

A minibus full of judiciary department employees was caught in the bomb blast (Getty Images)

The attack came mere hours after the Taliban publicly named Mawlawi Hibatullah Akhundzada as their new leader following the death of Mullah Mansour in a US drone strike in Pakistan.

In a statement released to Afghan media the Taliban said: "This attack was carried out as revenge for the killing of six innocent prisoners in Kabul."

Earlier this month May six convicted members of the group were hung at a Kabul prison for planning and committing terrorist acts.

The attack was the second of its kind against the judiciary in the city in the space of a month: a judge was killed by gunmen in the city a fortnight ago.

The UN mission in Afghanistan was quick to condemn the brutality of the attack.

According to a UN report, around 600 civilians have been killed in Taliban-led attacks in the country since the start of the year.

The most recent major suicide blast in Kabul left 64 dead and wounded hundreds injured on April 19, an attack also claimed by Taliban fighters.