Massive truck bomb hits Kabul
Truck bomb kills 90 in Kabul near many embassies
KABUL • A suicide attacker struck the fortified heart of the Afghan capital with a massive truck bomb Wednesday, killing 90 people, wounding 400 and raising new fears about the government’s ability to protect its citizens nearly 16 years into a war with insurgents.
The bomber drove into Kabul’s heavily guarded diplomatic quarter during the morning rush hour, leaving behind a bloody scene of chaos and destruction in one of the worst attacks since the drawdown of foreign forces from Afghanistan in 2014.
Most of the casualties were civilians, including women and children, said Ismail Kawasi, spokesman of the public health ministry. But the dead also included Afghan security guards at the facilities, including the U.S. Embassy, while 11 American contractors were wounded — none with lifethreatening injuries, a U.S. State Department official said.
“I have been to many attacks, taken wounded people out of many blast sites, but I can say I have never seen such a horrible attack as I saw this morning,” said ambulance driver Alef Ahmadzai. “Everywhere was on fire and so many people were in critical condition.”
There was no claim of responsibility for the attack, which came in the first week of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. The Taliban denied any involvement in an email to news outlets and condemned all attacks against civilians.
The explosives were hidden in a tanker truck used to clean out septic systems, said Najib Danish, deputy spokesman for the interior minister. The number of dead and wounded was provided by the Afghan government’s media centre, citing a statement from the Afghan Ulema Council, the country’s top religious body.
The blast gouged a crater about five metres deep near Zanbaq Square in the Wazir Akbar Khan district, where foreign embassies are protected by a battery of their own security personnel as well as Afghan police and National Security Forces.
The first floor of the Canadian embassy had “significant damage” but there was “minimal impact on the rest of the building,” said Global Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland.
All embassy employees have been accounted for and are safe, she added.
“The timing of this cowardly attack during the holy month of Ramadan was deliberate and intended to target civilians and foreign service workers from some of our closest allies,” Freeland said.
The nearby German Embassy was heavily damaged.
Also in the area is Afghanistan’s Foreign Ministry, the Presidential Palace and its intelligence and security headquarters, guarded by soldiers trained by the U.S. and its coalition partners.
Afghanistan’s war, the longest ever involving U.S. troops, has shown no sign of letting up, and the introduction into the battle of an Islamic State affiliate has made it more volatile.
Although they are small in number, militants from the Islamic State in Khorasan — an ancient name for parts of Afghanistan, Iran and Central Asia — have taken credit for several brazen assaults on the capital.
“Let’s be clear: This is an intelligence failure, as has been the case with so many other attacks in Kabul and beyond. There was a clear failure to anticipate a major security threat in a highly secured area,” said Michael Kugelman of the U.S.-based Wilson Center.
“The fact that these intelligence failures keep happening suggest that something isn’t working at the top, and major and urgent changes are needed in security policy,” he said by email.
There are currently 8,500 U.S. troops in Afghanistan.