KABUL: The
Taliban drove an ambulance packed with explosives into a crowded Kabul street on Saturday, setting off an enormous blast that killed at least 95 people and injured 158 others, adding to the grim toll of what has been one of the most violent stretches of the long war, Afghan officials said.
The attack came days after a 15-hour siege by the militants at the Intercontinental Hotel in Kabul that left scores dead, including 14 foreigners.
On Saturday, hospitals overflowed with the wounded, and forensic workers at the morgue struggled to identify the dead. The large casualty toll was another reminder of how badly
Afghanistan is bleeding. Over the past year, about 10,000 of the country's security forces have been killed and more than 16,000 others wounded, according to a senior Afghan government official. The Taliban losses are believed to be about the same.
United Nations's data suggests an average of about 10 civilians were killed every day over the first nine months of 2017. The surge in violence across the country, particularly deadly attacks that have shut down large parts of cities, comes at a time when the country's government has been in political disarray.
President Ashraf Ghani has struggled to build consensus and has recently found himself in a protracted political showdown with a regional strongman, a dispute that has taken up much of administration's energy. The strongman, Atta Muhammad Noor, a powerful governor, was fired by the president but has refused to leave his post, raising fears that the escalating political tensions could further undermine the country's fragile security.
Saturday's explosion occurred on a guarded street that leads to an old interior ministry building and several embassies, officials said. Many ministry departments still have offices there, and visitors line up every day for routine business. "I saw a flame that blinded my eyes, then I went unconscious," said Nazeer, 45, who was wounded in the head. "When I opened my eyes, I saw bodies lying on the ground."
"It's a massacre," said Dejan Panic, the coordinator in Afghanistan for the Italian aid group Emergency, which runs a nearby trauma center. At least 131 people were brought to the group's Kabul hospital.
According to Baseer Mujahid, a spokesman for the Kabul police, the bomber drove past the first checkpoint at the entrance to the street. "Police stopped the vehicle at the second checkpoint," Mujahid said. "Then he tried to drive in from the wrong lane. Again, the police tried to stop him. But he detonated the explosive-laden vehicle." Many of the buildings and shops on the street were shattered, their windows blown out. Family members begged the police to allow them on the street to seek news of loved ones.
"Today's attack is nothing short of an atrocity," Tadamichi Yamamoto, the leader of the
United Nations Mission in Afghanistan, said in a statement. "I am particularly disturbed by credible reports that the attackers used a vehicle painted to look like an ambulance, including bearing the distinctive medical emblem, in clear violation of international humanitarian law," Yamamoto added.
Later in the day, family members lined up outside Kabul's morgue. "My cousin was apolice officer; he was the person who stopped the ambulance laden with explosives," said Attaullah, 36, who anxiously waited outside the morgue. "He was 28, he had a son and a daughter."
