Terrorist attack kill over 80, injures 350 people

• French, Indian embassy affected

Terrorists let loose their pang on Wednesday as they stroke the city of Kabul in Afghanistan killing 80 people and injured more than 300 others with possibility of casualty rising.

The massive explosion was said to have hit the diplomatic quarter, one of Kabul’s most secure areas damaging French and Indian embassies.

No terrorist organisation has claimed responsibility for the dastard act.

It was learnt that a suspected truck bomb ripped through the heart of Kabul’s diplomatic district, killing at least 80 people and wounding hundreds, in a powerful blast described by officials as “one of the biggest” to have hit the Afghan capital.

Sources said Wednesday’s suicide attack took place near Zanbaq square, in Kabul’s 10th district, close to shops and restaurants, as well as government offices and foreign embassies.

However, Zabihullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the Taliban, disassociate the group as responsible for the attack.

It was gathered that the victims appear mainly to have been Afghan civilians and there were no immediate reports of casualties among foreign embassy staff.

At the scene of the blast, showed burning debris, crumbled walls and buildings and destroyed cars, many with dead or wounded people inside.

The blast swept security agents off their feet as the bomb happened in Afghan capital’s busiest and most secure parts.

“Kabul has been very quiet for the past week but police has confirmed to us that this was one of the biggest blasts Kabul has ever seen,” a witness said.

“If that is true, if a truck full of explosives could manage to get to that highly secure part of Kabul, then that is going to raise a lot of questions – not only among those diplomats living in the area, but also Kabul’s regular residents.”

Indian Minister of External Affairs,  Sushma Swaraj, was quoted to have tweeted that all of the staff at the Indian embassy “were safe in the massive Kabul blast”.

French officials said the country’s embassy in Kabul was damaged in the attack, but there were no signs at this stage of any victims.

Houses and shops hundreds of metres away from the blast site were damaged, with windows and doors blown off their hinges.

A resident in Kabul, Fatima Faizi,said the explosion was so loud that it shattered all his windows, noting that he has not heard something that big before.