At least 26 people were killed and 41 wounded yesterday after a Taliban-claimed car bomb struck a bus carrying government employees through a Shiite neighborhood in Kabul.
The assault came as a presidential spokesman said the Taliban also killed at least 35 civilians in an attack on a hospital in central Ghor Province over the weekend.
The deadly attacks underscore spiraling insecurity in Afghanistan as the resurgent Taliban ramp up their offensive across the nation, while security forces struggle to contain them.
Photo: Reuters
The bus yesterday was carrying employees of the Afghan Ministry of Mines and Petroleum, passing from western Kabul to the downtown ministry during rush hour, Ministry of Interior Affairs spokesman Najib Danish said.
It was struck by the car bomb as it passed through a busy area of the capital that is home to many Shiite Hazaras, a persecuted ethnic minority.
A photographer at the scene saw multiple bodies and wounded people in the street surrounded by shattered glass as security forces cordoned off the area.
The bus’ charred remains were left smoking in the middle of the road as the wounded were rushed to hospitals in ambulances as well as private cars and taxis.
“It was a huge explosion, my house nearly collapsed,” a resident who gave his name as Mostafa said.
“It was horrible,” shopkeeper Momin said. “It is a crowded area — many of my friends and other shopkeepers are either killed or wounded.”
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the blast, which came just before 7am. The group rarely claims attacks with high civilian casualties, but does frequently target government employees.
Afghan presidential spokesman Shah Hussain Murtazawi put the toll at 26 dead and 41 wounded, while at least 35 people were killed in the hospital attack over the weekend.
All the victims were civilians, Murtazawi said, without specifying if they were patients or staff.
Officials say telephone lines are down in Taywara District, captured by the militants over the weekend.
The Taliban have denied the claim and reports they torched the hospital, although a spokesman said parts of the building were damaged in fighting.
Yesterday’s attack came as the Hazara community had planned to hold a demonstration in the same neighborhood to mark the one-year anniversary of twin bombings that killed 84 people in an attack claimed by the Islamic State group.
They had agreed to postpone the demonstration over security fears and after a meeting on Sunday with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.
The Taliban have carried out sectarian attacks in the past, although they have been rare in Sunni-majority Afghanistan throughout its decades of war.
The rise of the Islamic State group, which has frequently targeted Shiites, has fueled the specter of more such assaults, with fears that Hazaras had been the target of the car bomb rather than the government employees.
Others have said that the politician Mohammad Mohaqeq, whose home is nearby, could have been the target.
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