A powerful bomb destroyed a police bus in the heart of the Afghan capital on Sunday, killing more than 35 people, police said, as the extremist Taliban movement claimed responsibility. It was the deadliest attack of its kind in Afghanistan since the Taliban regime was toppled in late 2001.
The 45-seater bus, which had been taking officers to a police academy, was totally destroyed in the explosion. Body parts and bits of human flesh were flung across a wide area.
”More than 35 people, including civilians and a police officer, were killed,” said the city’s criminal investigation department chief, Alishah Paktiawal. ”A number of people were wounded but we don’t have a figure.”
The blast struck outside the police headquarters in a crowded part of the city centre that is near a busy market. Two minibuses were damaged nearby and witnesses said bystanders may also have been hit.
Paktiawal first said the bomb was inside the bus, but later said it may have been a suicide bombing. ”We are investigating. We don’t know if it was a suicide bombing or an explosion inside the bus,” he told reporters at the scene. ”It is the work of terrorists, al-Qaeda and murderers of the people.”
The sirens of ambulances could be heard across the city as the wounded were ferried to hospitals. ”Over 30 wounded have been admitted to Kabul hospitals,” said Health Ministry spokesperson Abdullah Fahim. His initial reports put the death toll at more than 20.
The insurgent Taliban movement, which is allied with al-Qaeda, claimed responsibility. ”It was a suicide car bomb,” spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said.
The attack comes a day after a suicide car bomb blast in the west of the city killed three people. It was the fifth suicide bombing in Kabul this year.
The extremist movement has been waging an insurgency for the past five years that sees regular suicide blast and other attacks. — Sapa-AFP