5 civilians killed, many injured as blast targets Foreign Ministry

KABUL (Pajhwok): At least five people were killed and several others wounded when a powerful blast targeted the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in central capital Kabul on Wednesday, security officials said.

Kabul police spokesman Khalid Zadran told Pajhwok Afghan News the blast took place at around 4pm this afternoon on the road of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and unfortunately caused casualties.

He said five countrymen were killed and several others wounded in the blast. “The Islamic Emirate condemns such cowardly attack on Muslims and will find the perpetrators and give them punishment”.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Zia Ahmad Takal also told Pajhwok that the explosion happened near Gulbahar Center.

Some media reports said the blast occurred when a suicide bomber detonated his explosives after failing to enter the ministry building, killing at least 20 people.

Many others were injured in the suicide attack, Reuters news agency quoted an official of the Foreign Ministry as saying.

Former president Hamid Karzai strongly condemned the explosion and called it ‘a terrorist act, a crime against humanity and an act against all human and Islamic values’.

The attack came 10 days after 14 people were killed and 18 other wounded in a blast at the entrance of the Kabul military airport.

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