A powerful bomb blast rocked the Afghan capital early yesterday, rattling windows, sending smoke billowing from Kabul’s downtown area and killing at least one person and wounding at least 65, including nine children hurt by flying glass, officials said.
The Taliban claimed the attack, which came as the insurgents have been holding their latest round of talks with US envoy Zalmay Khalilzad in the Gulf state of Qatar, where they have a political office.
The explosion occurred as the streets in the capital were packed with morning commuters.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Mohammad Karim, a police official in the area of the attack, said a car bomb exploded outside an Afghan Ministry of Defense building, militants then ran into a nearby high-rise located in a crowded market and began firing down on the ministry.
Police and special Afghan security forces poured into the area and cordoned it off, triggering a gunbattle with militants that lasted for more than four hours.
Mohammad Farooq, the owner of a nearby restaurant, said the explosion blew out the windows of a private school, wounding several students.
Kabul’s chief police spokesman, Firdous Faramaz, confirmed the explosion, but did not provide details on the target or the type of explosive device.
Afghan Ministry of Health official Wahid Mayer said that at least one person had been killed and 65 wounded and warned that casualties could rise.
“Among the wounded, many children who were going to school,” said the Twitter account of the Emergency Hospital in Kabul, where many victims were taken.
Some social media images purportedly taken at the hospital showed wounded, stunned children in school uniforms, still clutching books as they arrived for treatment.
“We were sitting inside the office when the world turned upside down on us,” Zaher Usman, an employee at a branch of the Afghan Ministry of Culture, told Agency France-Presse, adding that his building stands just 150m from the blast.
“When I opened my eyes, the office was filled with smoke and dust and everything was broken, my colleagues were screaming,” Usman told he said by telephone.
The latest talks between the US and the Taliban were set to enter a third day yesterday. There was no immediate confirmation if they would go ahead after the blast.
However, with the attack still ongoing, the Taliban spokesman in Doha again insisted that the insurgents will not negotiate with Kabul.
The Taliban said their focus is on getting an announcement of a timetable for the withdrawal of US and NATO troops from Afghanistan.
The announcement is likely to be accompanied by a Taliban promise to hold intra-Afghan talks and agree to an eventual ceasefire.
Suhail Shaheen, spokesman for the Taliban’s political office in Doha, yesterday said that “our main concern is to make sure a timeline for troop pullout is announced.”
Pakistan condemned yesterday attack, saying “such attacks are detrimental to the cause of peace, security and stability in Afghanistan.”
Pakistan has reportedly pressed the Taliban, many of whom have homes in Pakistan, into talks with the US.
Additional reporting by AFP
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