KABUL: At least six people were killed and 12 wounded in a suicide blast near Afghanistan’s ministry of foreign affairs in Kabul here on Monday, a hospital run by an Italian NGO said.
“We received some injured,” said Stefano Sozza of Italian NGO Emergency, which runs the surgical center specializing in treating victims of war in Kabul.
The Italian NGO tweeted that at least one child was among the wounded people.
Blast in heavily fortified area
Sozza said the blast took place near the foreign ministry. Witnesses said they heard the sound of a large explosion near the heavily fortified area home to several government buildings and foreign embassies.
Spokespeople for the police, the information ministry, and the foreign ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The reason for the blast was not immediately apparent.
Security has dramatically improved in Afghanistan since the Taliban stormed back to power in August 2021, ousting the US-backed government and ending their two-decade insurgency, but the Islamic State (IS) group has proved an increasing threat.
The attacker was identified by Afghan troops who shot at him in front of a business centre near the Afghan foreign ministry, interior ministry spokesman Abdul Nafy Takor tweeted.
“With his killing, the explosive materials carried by the attacker also exploded which killed at least six civilians and injured a number of others,” he said.
No group has immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.
Today’s blast was the second attack near the foreign ministry in Afghanistan’s capital in less than three months and the first since the Muslim holy month of Ramadan started on Thursday in Afghanistan.
