An ambulance packed with explosives
blew up in a crowded area of Kabul on
Saturday, killing at least 40 people and.wounding 140 others, officials said, in
an attack claimed by the Taliban.
The explosion - one of the biggest since a
truck bomb ripped through the Afghan
capital's diplomatic quarter on May 31 last
year - triggered chaotic scenes as terrified
people fled the area where several high-
profile organisations, including the
European Union, have offices.
An AFP reporter saw "lots of dead and
wounded" civilians in the nearby Jamuriate
hospital where overwhelmed medical staff
struggled to treat bloodied men, women
and children lying in corridors.
"The latest toll from Kabul hospitals stands
at 40 martyred and 140 wounded," health
ministry spokesman Waheed Majroh told
AFP.
The force of the blast shook windows of
buildings at least two kilometres (more
than a mile) away and shattered windows
within hundreds of metres of the site.
Some low-rise structures in the vicinity of
the explosion also collapsed.
"The suicide bomber used an ambulance to
pass through the checkpoints. He passed
through the first checkpoint saying he was
taking a patient to Jamuriate hospital and
at the second checkpoint he was
recognised and blew his explosive-laden
car," interior ministry deputy spokesman
Nasrat Rahimi told AFP.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the
attack on social media - their second deadly
assault in Kabul in the space of a week.

'Massacre'
The Italian NGO Emergency said seven
dead and 70 injured had been taken to its
hospital, with its coordinator Dejan Panic
tweeting that it had been a "massacre".
Outside civilians walked through debris-
covered streets carrying wounded people
on their backs as others loaded several
bodies at a time into ambulances and
private cars to take them to medical
facilities around the city.
Aminullah, whose stationery shop is a just
metres from the site of the blast, said the
force of the explosion shook the
foundations of his building.
"The building shook. All our windows
broke. The people are in shock in our
market," he told AFP.
Photos shared on social media purportedly
of the blast showed a huge plume of smoke
rising into the sky.
A man told Tolo News he was passing the
area when the explosion happened.
"I heard a big bang and I fainted," he said,
outside the Emergency hospital.
"There were dozens of people who were
killed and wounded. There were pools of
blood."
The explosion happened in a busy part of
the city where the High Peace Council,
which is charged with negotiating with the
Taliban, has offices.
"It targeted our checkpoint. It was really
huge - all our windows are broken,"
Hassina Safi, a member of High Peace
Council, told AFP.
"So far we don't have any reports if any of
our members are wounded or killed."
Members of the European Union's
delegation in Kabul were in their "safe
room" and there were no casualties, an
official told AFP.
The explosion comes exactly a week after
Taliban militants stormed a luxury hotel in
Kabul, killing at least 22 people, the
majority foreigners.
A security alert issued to foreigners on
Saturday morning had warned that the
Islamic State group, which has terrorised
the city in recent months, was planning "to
conduct aggressive attacks" on
supermarkets, shops and hotels frequented
by foreigners.

Source : https://www.rte.ie/news/world/2018/0127/936370-kabul-bomb/

Taking innocent lives all in a bid to score a cheap political point. It's high time all Moslems rise up to condemn these terrorists hiding under Islam to perpetuate heinous crimes against humanity.
Silence they say is consent.

Afghanistan health officials have risen the death toll to at least 63 and wounded to over 151 in Kabul suicide car bomb attack.