Taliban Claims Kabul Bombing Killing at Least 95

Published January 27th, 2018 - 03:54 GMT
Afghan volunteers and policemen carry injured men on an ambulance at the scene of a car bomb exploded in front of the old Ministry of Interior building in Kabul on January 27, 2018. An ambulance packed with explosives blew up in a crowded area of Kabul on January 27, killing at least 17 people and wounding 110 others, officials said, in an attack claimed by the Taliban. 
(WAKIL KOHSAR / AFP)
Afghan volunteers and policemen carry injured men on an ambulance at the scene of a car bomb exploded in front of the old Ministry of Interior building in Kabul on January 27, 2018. An ambulance packed with explosives blew up in a crowded area of Kabul on January 27, killing at least 17 people and wounding 110 others, officials said, in an attack claimed by the Taliban. (WAKIL KOHSAR / AFP)

An ambulance laden with explosives blew up near a security checkpoint in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Saturday, killing at least 95 and injuring at least 150 more, officials said.

The explosion came around lunchtime, a particularly busy time for a street that houses government offices and leads to some international embassies, the New York Times reported.

"Most of the victims are civilians," Kabul Police spokesman Basir Mujahid told Stars and Stripes. "It was a terrible attack that killed women, children, shopkeepers and visitors to the area."

The Taliban has claimed responsibility for the attack, which Dejan Panic, a coordinator for Emergency, an international healthcare non-governmental organization that treated some of the victims, called "a massacre."

The Times described a chaotic scene on the street following the bombing. Security forces fought each other while family members struggled to track down those hurt in the explosion.

The bombing Saturday came a week after Taliban gunmen attacked the Afghan capital's Intercontinental Hotel, killing 22 people, including four Americans.


This article has been adapted from its original source.

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