Among the 20 dead were 12 Sikhs and Hindus, he told AFP. Another 20 people were wounded.
A high alert was sounded in the valley two days ahead of Republic Day and a message was circulated that an 18-year-old non-Kashmiri woman might "cause a suicide bomb explosion".
"The suicide bomber used an ambulance to pass through the checkpoints. He passed through the first checkpoint saying he was taking a patient to Jamuriate hospital and at the second checkpoint he was recognised and blew his explosive-laden car."
A suicide attacker on foot blew himself up near a compound belonging to the Afghan intelligence agency in Kabul
In southern Ghazni province, the insurgents stormed a security compound, using a suicide car
The explosion took place at the shrine at a time when hundreds of people had gathered to pay their respect.
An assistant sub-inspector was killed and three BSF jawans injured when the three terrorists entered the BSF battalion headquarters at Gogoland, adjacent to the airport.
The explosion happened as worshippers were leaving a Shiite mosque in the north of the city after Friday prayers.
The attack comes as Iraqi Shiites mark the first day of the Eid al-Adha feast.
Mohammad Salim Rasouli, chief of Kabul hospitals at the Health Ministry, confirmed that the attack also wounded nine people
Kabul police spokesman Abdul Basir Mujahid told AFP a suicide bomber "detonated himself inside the mosque", adding that there were casualties but he could not confirm how many.
It was the insurgents' first major attack since US President announced that he was committing American troops to the war-torn country indefinitely.
He would take his colour, brushes and canvas outside to paint and talk with his love. He would stand close to the window and paint, keeping an eye on his muse.
They say the violin mimics the human sound. In his case, it was that of love, of longing. He didn’t know any other way of loving.
Younger people do not have much progressive beliefs; a 2017 survey found that one-third of young people opposed inter-caste marriage.
The pandemic has made it clear that virtual learning is here to stay. In the West, the big question is whether it will dilute the quality of the college experience and education. In India, which grapples with digital divide, the question remains whether this will reach most people at all.
Even after two years of the Covid-19 pandemic, many 'informed' individuals in India continue to deny the virus with unscientific claims and unfounded data. The latest? Omicron will end the pandemic.
Across Asia there are deeply entrenched obstacles to a mode of higher education that is liberal in multiple senses – disciplinary and epistemological but also social and political.
The two incidents in the recent past, one in Mon district of Nagaland and the other at Lakhimpur Kheri in Uttar Pradesh, undermined the core principles democracy and federalism.