KABUL: The death toll from a Taliban suicide attack in Kabul has more than doubled to 64, officials said Wednesday, making it the deadliest militant assault in the Afghan capital for years.
The brazen attack on Tuesday on a security services office in the heart of Kabul is seen as the opening salvo in this year’s Taliban spring offensive, launched last week.
A powerful Taliban truck bomb tore through central Kabul and a fierce firefight broke out, sending clouds of smoke billowing into the sky and rattling windows several kilometers away.
“It is with regret that I announce that 64 people were killed and 347 others wounded in yesterday’s Kabul attack,” ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi told reporters. “Most of them are civilians.”
The ministry had earlier put the death toll at 30.
“The victims of (the) terrorist attack are all fathers, brothers or children of people,” Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said on Twitter.
“We will avenge every drop of Afghan blood.”
Death toll from Kabul attack rises to 64
Death toll from Kabul attack rises to 64
