A magnetic bomb attached to a minivan exploded today in the Shia majority area of Kabul, resulting in at least six deaths and several injuries. The blast took place in the Dasht-e Barchi area of western Kabul, as per a Taliban official.
An eyewitness to the blast has reported that Taliban officials have sealed the place of the blast, “We heard a huge blast in the minibus carrying commuters in Mahtab Qala locality of Dashti Bari area. The whole place has now been sealed off by the Taliban’s security forces”
The explosion took place on the main avenue running through Dashti Barchi, an area in Kabul heavily populated by Shiite Hazaras, who have become the target of a series of attacks carried out by ISIS-Khorasan Province (ISIS-K) – the local affiliate of the terror group ISIS.
A local man named Ismail said, “When I arrived, I saw the big flames,” adding, “It was a mini van which was targeted by a sticky bomb.” Another witness told AFP, “I was in my car and an explosion happened in the vehicle in front of us. It was completely burnt.” The witness said the explosion occurred near a checkpoint manned by the Taliban, and gunfire was heard briefly immediately afterwards.
The bus driver, who survived the blast, told media at the hospital that at one point during his route, a suspicious man got onto the bus and a few minutes later, the explosion went off at the back of the bus. The driver Murtaza said that some people in the back of the bus fell out of the minivan with their clothes on fire, while others escaped from the front door.
Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban’s main spokesman has reportedly tweeted that a fire had broken out in the Dasht-e Barchi area of western Kabul. Mujahid said the fire killed at least one civilian and injured two others and that an investigation was being carried out.
Yesterday, a high-intensity bomb blast haf occurred at a mosque in Traili town of Nangarhar province in eastern Afghanistan on Friday afternoon. The explosion occurred in front of a mosque in the Spin Ghar district at around 1.30 pm, during the Friday Namaz. The explosion had left at least three people dead and more than 35 wounded, including the imam of the mosque.
