Afghan officials say the number of people killed in a suicide attack on a bank in eastern Afghanistan has risen to at least 35, with more than 70 others wounded.
Officials previously had put the death toll at 18. Authorities say seven militants armed with guns and suicide bomb vests stormed the Jalalabad branch of Kabul Bank early Saturday, triggering a battle with security forces that lasted several hours.
The bank handles salaries for the Afghan police and military. The casualties included civilians and security personnel collecting their wages. Taliban militants claimed responsibility for the attack.
In other violence Saturday, Australian officials say insurgents shot and killed an Australian soldier and an Afghan interpreter on a patrol in the Mirabad region of central Afghanistan's Uruzgan province. The Australian soldier is the 23rd to be killed in Afghanistan since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion that ousted the Taliban from power.
Australia is the largest non-NATO contributor of troops to the near-decade long fight by U.S.-led forces against Taliban insurgents trying to oust an internationally-backed Afghan government.