A number of people were killed and at least 198 people were injured after an explosion rocked Kabul, Afghanistan on Tuesday morning, authorities say.
Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqi tells CNN that a suicide car bomber caused the explosion. The attack targeted the office of a security team that works to protect the government’s VIPs, an Afghan police official said.
The Afghan Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, the group said in a statement.
“First a suicide bomber blew up his explosives-laden lorry on the gate of the department and then other armed attackers went in and started shooting on the rest of the enemies,” the statement said.
Afghan police have been instructed to kill the Taliban terrorists in the area near the explosion, Sediqi said.
Several witness said they continued to hear gunfire after the explosion. Ambulances carried nearly 200 injured people to several hospitals around Kabul, said the Afghan Health Ministry.
“President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani condemned the terrorist attack in Pule Mahmood Khan area, Kabul, which martyred and injured a number of Afghan innocent civilians in strongest terms,” a statement released by the president’s office said.
Ghani tweeted the following from his office’s official account: “Today’s terrorist attack near Pul-e-Mahmud Khan, #Kabul clearly shows the enemy’s defeat in face-to-face battle with (Afghan National Defence and Security Forces).”
The explosion was heard near the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, according to an embassy spokeswoman.
The embassy was unaffected by the explosion, according to the official.
