KABUL: A truck bomb exploded near an army compound in the centre of the Afghan capital on Friday, killing at least eight people and wounding close to 200, police and health ministry officials said.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the explosion, which shook the centre of the capital and ripped through homes and shops.
“A truck bomb detonated close to an army compound,” said Kabul police chief Abdul Rahman Rahimi, adding that at least eight bodies had been found.
The health ministry said 198 people had been wounded.
Dozens were wounded by debris and glass shattering in the heavily populated area and cars parked at least a hundred metres were damaged by the blast, a Reuters witness said.
Police expect the number of dead to rise, as buildings had collapsed and bodies were feared buried in the wreckage.
The blast was unusually powerful in a city that is frequently targeted by the Taliban and other militants seeking to destabilise the Afghan government.
Smaller magnet bombs or suicide attacks have become a weekly occurrence in the heavily fortified capital, but large truck bombs have rarely penetrated the city’s outskirts.
A Western security source said the target was probably a compound used by Afghan intelligence officials and that as many as 15 people had been killed.
