At least 80 people were killed and hundreds of others injured in a massive blast in the heart of capital Kabul, leaving the Afghan capital in a state of shock in the 5th day of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Afghan officials said a huge amount of explosives were detonated between Turkish and German embassies in Kabul’s Wazir Akbar Khan district at around 8:30 a.m. The explosion ripped through banks, embassies, supermarkets, official buildings and overturned cars in the streets. Dozens of bodies were lying motionless on the street as medics and ambulances rushed to the scene.
All victims were Afghan civilians and security guards, including nine guards who were dispatched to protect the U.S. Embassy. At least 5 women were killed in the blast. Most diplomatic missions were protected by high blast walls and there was no report of foreign casualties.
At least 11 U.S. citizens working as contractors were injured in the bombing attack, including a number of Japanese and German consular officials.
The Afghan Taliban refused to assume responsibility for the attack. Spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said the perpetrators will be revealed at a later stage.
Wednesday’s bombing in Kabul was perhaps the biggest terrorist attack in almost a decade. At least 80 people were killed in Dec. 6, 2011 suicide attack on a Shia Muslim shrine. July 23 suicide bombing attacks last year at a gathering of Shia Muslim Hazara protesters also killed 80 people. At least 1,500 people were killed in similar attacks since 2009.
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