The Afghan government's media centre has raised the death toll from the massive suicide truck bombing in Kabul to 90 killed.
The centre also says that 400 people are now reported to have been wounded in the attack today morning. No group has claimed responsibility for the bombing that hit in a highly secure diplomatic area of the Afghan capital.
The media center quoted a statement from the Afghan Ulema Council, the country's top religious body that includes Muslim clerics, scholars and men of authority in religion and law, as giving the new casualty tolls.
The council strongly condemned the attack, saying that "carrying out such attacks in the holy month of Ramadan is completely against humanity".
The blast smashed windows of the buildings nearby and a huge plume of smoke could be seen spiralling over the area near the presidential palace and other foreign embassies in the Afghan capital.
Witnesses described dozens of cars choking the roads as wounded survivors and panicked schoolgirls sought safety, with men and woman struggling to get through security checkpoints to search for loved ones.
“A car bomb” exploded at 8:25 am, Najib Danish, an Interior Ministry spokesman, said.
By God's grace, Indian Embassy staff are safe in the massive #Kabul blast.
— Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) May 31, 2017
A public health official said at least 80 persons had been killed and more than 350 injured. The victims appear mainly to have been Afghan civilians and there were no immediate reports of casualties among foreign embassy staff.
Authorities warned the toll could yet rise. "They are still bringing bodies and wounded people to hospitals," senior Health Ministry spokesman Ismael Kawoosi said.
The Interior Ministry was calling on Kabul residents to donate blood, saying hospitals were in "dire need".
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj tweeted that Indian embassy staffers were safe.
Official sources at the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi, however, said some damage to the windows of the embassy building has been reported.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted: "We strongly condemn the terrorist blast in Kabul. Our thoughts are with the families of the deceased & prayers with the injured."
The French and Chinese embassies were among those damaged, the two countries said, adding there were no immediate signs of injuries among diplomats.
We strongly condemn the terrorist blast in Kabul. Our thoughts are with the families of the deceased & prayers with the injured.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 31, 2017
The explosion shattered windows at the Japanese embassy. "Two Japanese embassy staffers were mildly injured, suffering cuts", a foreign ministry official in Tokyo said.
It was not immediately clear what the target was. But the attack underscores spiralling insecurity in Afghanistan, where a military beset by soaring casualties and desertions is struggling to beat back the insurgents. Over a third of the country is outside government control.
More than an hour after the explosion, ambulances were still taking the wounded to hospital as firefighters struggled to control blazes in several buildings.
An eyewitness told the local Pajwok news agency that the blast took place close to the German embassy and foreign forces camp. It cited anoter source as saying the explosion happened in front of the office of the National Directorate of Security (NDS), Afghanistan's primary intelligence agency.
Houses hundreds of metres away from the blast site were damaged and windows and doors blown off their hinges. Bodies and injured people were seen in the area. Some women were seen screaming for the lost relatives at the site of explosion.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but the attack came as the resurgent Taliban are stepping up their annual “spring offensive”.
The Islamic State group has also claimed responsibility for several recent bombings in the Afghan capital, including a powerful blast targeting an armoured NATO convoy that killed at least eight people and wounded 28 on May 3.
Today’s attack underscores spiralling insecurity in Afghanistan, where Afghan forces beset by soaring casualties and desertions are struggling to beat back the insurgents.
More than one third of the country is outside government control.
Afghan troops are backed by US and NATO forces, and the Pentagon has reportedly asked the White House to send thousands more troops to the country to break the deadlocked fight against the Taliban.
US troops in Afghanistan number about 8,400 today, and there are another 5,000 from NATO allies, who also mainly serve in an advisory capacity—a far cry from the US presence of more than 100,000 six years ago.
Pentagon chief Jim Mattis has warned of “another tough year” for both foreign troops and local forces in Afghanistan.
The blast was the latest in a long line of attacks in Kabul. The province surrounding the capital had the highest number of casualties in the first three months of 2017 thanks to multiple attacks in the city, with civilians bearing the brunt of the violence.
