Media reports say at least 20 people have been killed after a suspected suicide bomber killed himself outside the Foreign Ministry building in Kabul yesterday afternoon, at about 4pm local time (11:30 GMT).
Ustad Fareedun, an official at the Taliban-run Information Ministry, told Reuters that the bomber had planned to enter the foreign ministry but failed. He added that at least 20 people were killed and many others injured in the blast.
Meanwhile, Khalid Zardan, a spokesman for the Kabul Security Department, put the death toll at five. TOLOnews cited Zardan as saying that at least five civilians were killed and several others were wounded in the blast.
Victims of the blast were reportedly taken to the Emergency Hospital. According to TOLOnews, the Emergency Hospital in Kabul said in a statement that it has received more than 40 patients from Wednesday’s blast.
The blast reportedly happened when a Chinese delegation was meeting the Taliban at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“There was supposed to be a Chinese delegation at the foreign ministry today, but we don’t know if they were present at the time of the blast,” Deputy Minister of Information and Culture Muhajer Farahi told AFP.
The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) and several countries, including Pakistan, condemned the attack.
According to Al Jazeera, the ISIL (ISIS) terror group claimed responsibility for the deadly suicide blast, the armed group’s Amaq news agency said in an affiliated Telegram channel late on Wednesday.
The Taliban claims to have improved security since storming back to power in 2021.
Meanwhile, Khaama Press says the security situation has deteriorated in Kabul and other major cities of Afghanistan in the recent past. Targeted attacks, suicide bombings, and gun firing have occurred in several locations taking the lives of security officials and innocent civilians.
Since the Taliban’s return to power in August 2021, there have not been any major improvements in terms of security, but there have been dozens of bomb blasts and attacks, many claimed by the local chapter of the ISIL terror group.
At least five Chinese nationals were wounded last month when armed men stormed a hotel popular with Chinese business people in Kabul.
That raid was claimed by ISIL, which also took responsibility for an attack on Pakistan’s embassy in Kabul in December that Islamabad denounced as an “assassination attempt” against their ambassador.
