Five killed in Kabul bombing (Second Lead)

December 15th, 2009 - 2:46 pm ICT by IANS  

Kabul, Dec 15 (DPA) Afghan President Hamid Karzai said five people, including two women, were killed in a suspected suicide attack at the diplomatic enclave of Kabul Tuesday.
Speaking to senior government officials and diplomats at an anti-corruption conference, he said the blast took place near the residence of former first vice-president Ahmad Zia Massoud, who was unharmed.

Karzai said 31 people had been wounded in the explosion.

The apparent car bombing occurred near the Heetal hotel in the Wazir Akbar Khan area where several embassies and international organisations are located, said police officer Abdul Matin.

He said the blast came from a vehicle loaded with explosives. Another police official who requested anonymity said it was a suicide bombing.

Video footage from private television channel Tolo showed a vehicle on fire, with the blast having created a crater in the road and destroyed two two-storey buildings. Police and local residents were also seen carrying injured people to military ambulances.

The defence ministry said ambulances evacuated one dead and 16 injured people to a military hospital in Kabul.

“Our office is some half kilometre away from the blast site, but the explosion was so big that it broke all the glass,” Abdul Haseeb, an employee for a construction company told DPA.

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