A bomb hidden in an ambulance has killed at least 95 people and injured more than 150 in the heavily fortified heart of the Afghan capital, Kabul, in the latest in a string of high-profile attacks.
The suicide bomber struck at a police checkpoint where the streets were crowded with people queueing to visit nearby offices and embassies, and vendors serving them. Witnesses said bodies were strewn across the pavement.
“It’s a massacre,” said Dejan Panic, a coordinator for the nearby emergency hospital, which was nearly overwhelmed by the flood of victims. Dozens were laid out on mattresses in the courtyard to wait for treatment from medics with the Italian charity, which was still tending to patients from previous attacks.
The bombing was the deadliest in Kabul for nearly eight months, a warning that even though the US has stepped up operations against insurgents, they still have the capacity to carry out attacks in government strongholds.
This week alone Isis shut down a charity that serves millions of Afghans by targeting its headquarters, and a Taliban attack on a high-profile hotel killed 22 people and crippled an airline providing vital transport links over militant-controlled territory. Guardian.
