Death toll from blast in Afghan capital Kabul rises to 64

With 347 wounded, casualty has risen with more than double the total previously estimated by police

KABUL: The casualty total from Tuesday's major attack in Kabul has risen to 64 killed, more than double the total previously estimated by police, and 347 wounded, Afghan Interior Ministry spokesperson Sediq Sediqqi said on Wednesday.

He said most of those killed in the attack, which hit a security services office in the heart of the government and diplomatic area of the Afghan capital, were civilians. It was the deadliest single attack in Kabul since 2011.



A Taliban truck bomb tore through central Kabul Tuesday, triggering a fierce firefight, a week after the insurgents launched their annual spring offensive.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack in a densely crowded neighbourhood, which sent clouds of acrid smoke billowing into the sky and rattled windows several kilometres away.

The brazen assault near the defence ministry marks the first major Taliban attack in the Afghan capital since the insurgents announced the start of this year’s fighting season.



“One of the suicide attackers blew up an explosives-laden truck in a public parking lot next to a government building,” Kabul police chief Abdul Rahman Rahimi told reporters.