28 killed, more than 320 wounded in Kabul attack

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28 killed, more than 320 wounded in Kabul attack

Kabul - President Ashraf Ghani says several killed and wounded in Kabul blast

By Agencies

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Published: Tue 19 Apr 2016, 8:52 AM

Last updated: Tue 19 Apr 2016, 6:56 PM

A number of people were killed and wounded in a blast that rocked central Kabul during the morning rush hour on Tuesday, President Ashraf Ghani said, an attack that apparently targeted the offices of Afghanistan's main security agency.
Police chief has announced that the death toll has jumped to 28.
The Presidential Palace condemned the attack "in the strongest possible terms" and said in a statement a number of people had been killed or wounded. 

 
 
A spokesman for an emergency hospital in the city said the facility had received eight lightly wounded Afghan soldiers. 

Image via Twitter
A witness near the scene also reported hearing gunfire more than half an hour after the blast. Kabul police also reported some gunfire in the area immediately after the blast, which happened during the morning rush hour. 
Several major Afghan security agencies are based in the area, including the National Directorate of Security. The Ministry of Defence and the presidential palace are also within a few hundred metres. 
 
There was no indication of what caused the blast, nor any claim of responsibility, although both the Taleban and the Al Qaeda-linked Haqqani network have carried out attacks in the city in the past. 
The Taleban-led insurgency has gained strength since the withdrawal of international forces from combat at the end of 2014 and the Taleban are stronger than at any point since they were driven from power by US-backed forces in 2001.
 
The Taleban warned they would "employ large-scale attacks on enemy positions across the country" during the offensive dubbed Operation Omari in honour of the movement's late founder Mullah Omar, whose death was announced last year.
The annual spring offensive normally marks the start of the "fighting season", though this winter the lull was shorter and they continued to battle government forces albeit with less intensity.
 
 

An Afghan soldier responds to a Taleban-claimed suicide attack in Kabul, Afghanistan, Tuesday, April 19, 2016.
An Afghan soldier responds to a Taleban-claimed suicide attack in Kabul, Afghanistan, Tuesday, April 19, 2016.
Afghan security forces respond to a Taleban-claimed suicide attack in Kabul, Afghanistan on April 19, 2016.
Afghan security forces respond to a Taleban-claimed suicide attack in Kabul, Afghanistan on April 19, 2016.

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