Nearly 100 killed, over 150 wounded in ambulance blast in Kabul

KABUL: A bomb hidden in an ambulance killed at least 95 people and wounded about 158 in the Afghan capital Kabul on Saturday when it blew up at a police checkpoint in a busy part of the city that was crowded with pedestrians.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the suicide blast, a week after they claimed an attack on the Intercontinental Hotel, in which more than 20 people were killed.

An interior ministry spokesman blamed the Haqqani network — a militant group affiliated with the Taliban, which Afghan and Western officials consider to be behind many of the biggest attacks on urban targets in Afghanistan.

As medical teams struggled to handle the casualties pouring in, some of the wounded were laid out in the open, with intravenous drips set up next to them in hospital gardens.

“It’s a massacre,” said Dejan Panic — the coordinator in Afghanistan for the Italian aid group Emergency, which runs a nearby trauma hospital that treated dozens of wounded.

Hours after the blast, a health ministry spokesman said the casualty toll had risen to at least 95 killed and 158 wounded.

Saturday’s explosion capped a violent week in Afghanistan, with the siege at the Intercontinental Hotel and another attack on an office of the aid group Save the Children in the eastern city of Jalalabad. That attack was claimed by Daesh.

The wave of attacks has put pressure on President Ashraf Ghani and his US allies, who have expressed growing confidence that a new more aggressive military strategy has succeeded in driving Taliban insurgents back from major provincial centres.

The US has stepped up its assistance to Afghan security forces and increased its air strikes against the Taliban and other militant groups, aiming to break a stalemate and force the insurgents to the negotiating table.

However, the Taliban have dismissed suggestions they have been weakened by the new strategy, and the past week has shown their capacity — to mount deadly, high-profile attacks — is undiminished, even in the heavily protected centre of Kabul.

Washington — which has accused Pakistan of giving assistance to the Taliban and has cut off some aid to Islamabad — urged all countries to take “decisive action” to stop the violence.

“There can be no tolerance for those who support or offer sanctuary to terrorist groups,” Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said in a statement.

Pakistan — which denies the accusations — condemned the attack and called for “concerted efforts and effective cooperation among the states to eradicate the scourge of terrorism”.

Ambulance at checkpoint

Saturday is a working day in Afghanistan and the streets were full when the blast went off at around lunchtime in a busy part of the city close to shops and markets and near a number of foreign embassies and government buildings.

Mirwais Yasini — a member of parliament who was near the blast — said an ambulance approached the checkpoint and blew up, having passed through another checkpoint further down the road.

The target was apparently an Interior Ministry building but the victims were mainly people who happened to be on the street.

Buildings hundreds of meters (yards) away were shaken by the force of the blast, which left torn bodies strewn on the street amid piles of rubble, debris, and wrecked cars.

“Today’s attack is nothing short of an atrocity,” Tadamichi Yamamoto — the head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan — said in a statement, adding that those behind it must be brought to justice.

The casualty toll is the worst since 150 people were killed in a huge truck bomb explosion last May near the German embassy. That attack prompted a major reinforcement of security aimed at preventing similar vehicle-borne assaults.

Security officials said further attacks were likely and security was tightened around potential targets in the city.

But with much of central Kabul already a heavily fortified zone of high concrete blast walls and police checkpoints, there were angry questions about how the bomber got through.

“Officials must be held responsible,” said former deputy Interior Minister Mohammad Ayub Salangi.

People helped walking-wounded away as ambulances with sirens wailed through the traffic-clogged streets of the city centre.

“I was sitting in the office when the explosion went off,” Alam — an office worker whose head was badly cut in the blast — said. “All the windows shattered, the building collapsed, and everything came down.”

The Swedish and Dutch embassies as well as the European Union mission and an Indian consular office are also nearby but there were no reports that any staff were hurt.

Pakistan condemns Kabul explosion

Reacting to the explosion, Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the terror attack, according to Dr Mohammad Faisal — the foreign office spokesperson — who stressed that "terrorism is not the way forward".

In a tweet, Dr Mohammad Faisal said, "The people and government of Pakistan condemn the terrorist blast in Kabul and extend heartfelt condolences to the families of those who lost their lives in this reprehensible act."

Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal also strongly condemned the attack in the Afghan capital, noting that Afghanistan and Pakistan have both "paid a heavy price at the hands of terrorism. We need to work together and closely to bring peace in our region".

Kabul hotel blast

On January 21, at least five people were killed and six injured after gunmen attacked Kabul’s Intercontinental Hotel, seizing hostages and exchanging gunfire with security forces as the building in the Afghan capital caught fire and residents and staff fled.

The operation to rescue the hostages was completed the next day, with 126 hostages, 41 foreigners among them, rescued.

The ministry's spokesperson, Najib Danish, said three attackers were killed in the operation. 

Hotel manager Ahmad Haris Nayab — who escaped unhurt — said the attackers had got into the main part of the hotel through a kitchen and people tried to get out amid bursts of gunfire.

The attack came days after a US embassy warning of possible attacks on hotels in Kabul.

COVER IMAGE: Police officers keep watch while a man drives his heavily damaged car at a car bomb attack site in Kabul, Afghanistan, January 27, 2018. REUTERS/Omar Sobhani