Afghan capital in shock after ambulance bomb kills over 100
KABUL - Kabul reacted in despair and fear yesterday, a day after a suicide bomb killed more than 100 people and wounded at least 235 in the worst attack seen in the Afghan capital in months.
There was a mix of helpless anger at the seemingly endless wave of attacks after an ambulance packed with explosives blew up in a crowded city street, with security officials warning that more attacks were possible.
“How are we to live? Where should we go?” asked shopkeeper Mohammad Hanif, who was in his shop near the site of the explosion when it went off.
“We have no security, we don’t have no proper government, what should we do?”
Interior Minister Wais Barmak said the casualty toll had risen to at least 103 dead and 235 wounded. He said at least two vehicles painted as ambulances were involved in the attack, one of which blew up at when it was stopped at a police checkpoint.
The blast was claimed by the Taliban, a week after their deadly attack on the city’s Intercontinental Hotel, in a calculated answer to U.S. President Donald Trump’s new strategy in Afghanistan.
“The Islamic Emirate has a clear message for Trump and his hand kissers that if you go ahead with a policy of aggression and speak from the barrel of a gun, don’t expect Afghans to grow flowers in response,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a statement, using the term they use to describe themselves.
Trump, who last year sent more American troops to Afghanistan and ordered an increase in air strikes and other assistance to Afghan forces, said the attack “renews our resolve and that of our Afghan partners.”
The attack was the worst seen in the Afghan capital since a truck bomb near the German embassy killed 150 people in May.