16 killed, 38 wounded by blast in Kandahar

KANDAHAR: At least 16 people were killed and 38 wounded on Tuesday when a minivan packed with explosives exploded as members of the security forces were trying to defuse it in southern Afghanistan, officials said.

Police and intelligence officers in the city of Kandahar had already cleared the area around a bus station where the van was found, said the provincial governor’s spokesman Daud Ahmadi.

“As the security forces were trying to defuse the van, it detonated,” said police spokesman Mohammad Qasim Azad. “The latest figures show 16 dead and 38 wounded people brought to the hospital.

We still have two ambulances at the site because there might be more people under the rubble,” said Dr Nehmat Barak, chief of the Mirwais Hospital in Kandahar.

Ahmadi confirmed the toll, adding that the dead included four members of the security forces.

At least five children and 10 members of the security forces were among the wounded.

The blast was so powerful that most of the casualties were passers-by outside the cleared area.

“When I was going to my shop the area was closed by the security forces,” one witness said.

“I was waiting for the way to be opened when a big explosion happened and I escaped from the area.