80 dead in Kabul diplomatic quarter blast
KABUL (AP) — A massive explosion rocked a highly secure diplomatic area of Kabul yesterday morning, killing 80 people and wounding as many as 320, sending a huge plume of smoke over the Afghan capital.
The target of the attack — which officials said was a suicide car bombing — was not immediately known, but Ismail Kawasi, spokesman of the public health ministry, said most of the casualties were civilians, including women and children.
Associated Press images from the scene showed the German embassy and several other embassies located in the area heavily damaged in the explosion. It wasn’t known if any foreign diplomats were among the casualties.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the blast. Both the Taliban and the Islamic State group have staged large-scale attacks in the Afghan capital in the past.
A statement from the Ministry of Interior Affairs says it “condemns in the strongest terms the terrorist attack” that killed so many people.
”These heinous acts go against the values of humanity as well as values of peaceful Afghans,” the statement added. “These attacks also demonstrate the extreme level of atrocity by terrorists against innocent civilians.”
The explosion took place at the peak of Kabul’s rush hour when roads are packed with worktime commuters. It went off close to a busy intersection in the Wazir Akbar Khan district, said Najib Danish, deputy spokesman for the Interior Ministry.
The neighborhood is considered Kabul’s safest area, with foreign embassies protected by dozens of 10-foot-high blast walls and government offices, guarded by police and national security forces. The German embassy, the Foreign Ministry and the Presidential Palace are all in the area, as are the British and the Canadian embassies.
The Chinese, Turkish and Iranian embassies are also located there.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani strongly condemned the attack, which came just days into the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. A statement from his office quoted Ghani as saying that “the terrorists, even in the holy month of Ramadan, the month of goodness, blessing and prayer, are not stopping the killing of our innocent people.”