ugc_banner

Kabul explosion: Death toll increases to 103

WION Web Team
New Delhi, Delhi, IndiaUpdated: Feb 12, 2018, 11:56 AM IST
main img
The explosion happened in a busy part of the city where the High Peace Council has offices. Photograph:(ANI)

The death toll from a devastating suicide bomb blast in Kabul has risen to 103 with hundreds more wounded, officials said Sunday, making it the worst attack in the Afghan capital in months.

"Unfortunately a number of wounded people have died in hospital. The number of martyrs is now 103," interior minister Wais Barmak told reporters, adding that another 235 were wounded.

An explosives-packed ambulance blew up in a crowded area of Kabul on Saturday in one of the biggest blasts to rock the war-torn city in recent years.

The Taliban-claimed assault -- the second carried out by the militant group in the Afghan capital in a week -- triggered chaotic scenes as terrified survivors fled the area scattered with body parts, blood and debris, and hospitals were overwhelmed by a large number of wounded.

The blast happened in an area where several high-profile organisations, including the European Union, have offices. Members of the EU delegation in Kabul were in their "safe room" and there were no casualties. 

US President Donald on Sunday asked countries to take decisive action against the Taliban and the terrorist infrastructure that supports them, in an indirect but obvious reference to Pakistan.

The Ministry of External Affairs has strongly condemned the massive suicide-bomb explosion in Kabul. The official release noted that the "barbaric and dastardly terrorist attacks in Kabul targeted innocent civilians and the wounded under treatment."

Pakistan, on Saturday, strongly condemned the terror attack in Kabul that claimed at least 95 lives and called for cooperation among countries for effectively combating and eliminating the scourge of terrorism.