Eight killed by suicide bombing in Kabul diplomatic enclave - 4th Update

Kabul - Eight people, including four women, were killed and 40 were injured Tuesday in a suicide bombing in Kabul's diplomatic enclave, officials said. A Taliban spokesman denied involvement in the attack.

"As a result of the suicide attack today, four men and four women were martyred," the Interior Ministry said in a statement.

President Hamid Karzai, speaking at a national anti-corruption conference, said the blast took place near the residence of his former first vice president Ahmad Zia Massoud, who was unharmed.

He said two of Massoud's guards were among those killed.

The apparent car bombing occurred near the Heetal hotel in the Wazir Akbar Khan area, where several embassies and international organizations are located, police officer Abdul Matin said.

He said the blast came from a vehicle loaded with explosives.

The blast created a crater in the road and destroyed two two-storey buildings. Windows on nearby buildings have been shattered and a cloud of smoke was seen billowing from the area for several hours.

"Our office is about a half-kilometer away from the blast site, but the explosion was so big that it broke all the glass," said Abdul Haseeb, an employee for a construction company.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid, who has regularly claimed responsibility in the past for attacks carried out by the Taliban or its allied groups, said Taliban fighters were not behind Tuesday's bombing.

"It was not carried out by our friends," he said.

Salem Hasas, a former Kabul police chief, was among those wounded, according to his neighbor Ahmad Zameer, who reported seeing the former commander at the scene of the attack.

"When the blast took place, I was some 30 meters away from the site," said Mohammad Haroon, a worker for a non-governmental organization who was supervising laborers at a nearby park. "There was a big fire that went up to 50 meters into the sky."

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/299397,eight-killed-by-suicide-bombing-in-kabul-diplomatic-enclave-.html.