A powerful car bomb rocked a busy market area in the centre of Kabul today, killing at least 22 people in the bloodiest attack in the Afghan capital since the fall of the Taliban.
A UN security official said 22 people were dead and about 65 people were rushed to one hospital. Policemen were among the dead.
Emergency vehicles and armoured personnel carriers from the international peacekeeping force rushed to the scene in a crowded market near the Ministry of Information.
Witnesses said a smaller explosion had drawn crowds to the area when the car bomb - apparently in a taxi - exploded in front of a building containing shops selling TV and satellite dishes - all forbidden during hard-line Taliban rule. The second floor of the building housed a small hotel.
Police sealed off the area, but emergency vehicles could be seen rushing injured to hospitals. Some dazed victims were led away, their clothing ripped and covered in blood.
Five or six vehicles were destroyed, windows shattered and doors of shops ripped off their hinges.
"This bomb was inside a taxi," said police spokesman Mr Dul Aqa. "It was a very, very strong explosion. We can't say exactly who was behind it but we know the last bombs were al-Qaida and former Prime Minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar."
Mr Hekmatyar issued a call for jihad, or holy war, this week to drive US and foreign troops including international peacekeepers from Afghanistan.
The death toll is uncertain because Afghans often pick up the bodies of their relatives and bury them immediately without reporting the death.
The blast occurred in one of the most congested areas of the city on a day when many residents do their shopping before Friday's Muslim prayer day. One shopper, Mr Haji Abdul Aroof, said he saw four bodies lying in the street.
"We came to see what was happening when the second bomb went off," he said.
"There was a powerful explosion and we all ran."
A spokesman for the International Security Assistance Force confirmed the blast had gone off near the information and culture ministry just before 3:00 p.m. (1030 GMT).
AP & AFP
