Kabul attack kills
Blast kills at least 80 as it cuts through city at rush hour Trump has social media in a spin over ‘negative press covfefe’
US President Donald Trump last night tweeted a strange sentence.
“Despite the constant negative press covfefe,” it read. No, that isn’t a typo. It’s a good guess that the word Trump was looking for was “coverage”. But the tweet, and the thought, remained incomplete. Within 45 minutes, it had been retweeted more than 25,000 times and “liked” more than 30,000 times. After five hours, it had been retweeted 120,000 times
Apowerful bomb exploded in the morning rush hour in the centre of the Afghan capital yesterday, killing or wounding hundreds of people and sending clouds of black smoke into the sky above the presidential palace and foreign embassies.
The explosion, one of the deadliest in Kabul and coming at the start of the holy month of Ramadan, occurred close to the fortified entrance to the German embassy on a road that is usually choked with traffic at that time of day, said Basir Mujahid, a spokesman for Kabul police.
The bomb went off about 8.25am local time.
“It was a car bomb near the German embassy, but there are several other important compounds and offices near there too. It is hard to say what the exact target is,” Mujahid told Reuters.
Germany’s Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said the explosion wounded employees at the embassy and killed an Afghan security guard outside the building.
The blast, which shattered windows and blew doors off their hinges in houses hundreds of metres away, was unusually powerful.
Mujahid said it was caused by explosives concealed in a sewage tanker.
A public health official said at least 80 people had been killed and more than 350 wounded.
The victims appear mainly to have been Afghan civilians and there were no immediate reports of casualties among foreign embassy staff.
The French and Chinese embassies were among those damaged, the two countries said, adding there were no immediate signs of injuries among diplomats.
Video shot at the scene showed burning debris, crumbled walls and buildings and destroyed cars, many with dead or injured people inside.
At the Wazir Akhbar Khan hospital a few blocks away, there were scenes of chaos as ambulances brought in the wounded, and frantic relatives scanned casualty lists and questioned hospital staff for news.
“It felt like an earthquake,” said 21-year-old Mohammad Hassan, describing the moment the blast struck the bank where he was working. and “liked” 152,000 times.
Quickly, the “word” covfefe began trending.
“Don’t talk to me until I’ve had my #covfefe,” wrote one user.
“What’s even the point of CNN if they’re not going commercial-free with #covfefe coverage?” inquired another.
“The next time I go to Starbucks I’m gonna order a grande #covfefe,” wrote one thirsty user.
The word “covfefe” does not
His head wound had been bandaged but blood still soaked his white dress shirt.
Another lightly wounded victim, Nabib Ahmad, 27, said there was widespread destruction and confusion.
“I couldn’t think clearly, there was a mess everywhere,” he said.
Later, another frenzy broke out outside the hospital as ambulances and police trucks began bringing in the bodies of those killed. Some bodies were burned or destroyed beyond recognition.
Both the Taliban and Isis (Islamic State) have carried out high-profile attacks in Kabul in recent months but there was no immediate claim of responsibility.
A spokesman for Taliban appear in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary. When searching for it on the company’s website, the dictionary suggests “coffee”, “coven”, “cover”, “covet”, “covey” and “cuvee”.
Twitter users certainly came up with a few definitions for the word, such as coffee or a synonym to The Lion King’s “hakuna matata”. (It means no worries, for the rest of your days.)
All will become clear soon, no doubt.