Anger as Kabul buries victims of deadly suicide blast

Angry residents of the Afghan capital on Thursday were demanding answers from the government as to how the previous day's suicide blast that claimed 90 lives was allowed to happen.

The bombing, which struck Kabul's diplomatic quarter during rush hour on Wednesday morning, came just a few days into the holy month of Ramadan, a time when families come together to celebrate, reports CNN.

Instead, relatives were burying the dead and tending the wounds of the 461 confirmed injured.

A CNN correspondent in Kabul said people were angry that so much money was spent by so many countries to safeguard Afghanistan's security and the attack still could not be prevented.

"The fact that this can happen in the country's capital, that a truck filled with so many explosives could just drive up and detonate. There's a lot of anger right now directed at officials," he said.

Most of the wounded were taken to the city's three major hospitals, the emergency wards of which remain packed with those caught up in the massive blast.

As doctors worked round-the-clock, hospitals sent out urgent calls for more blood to treat many with critical injuries.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, which saw a waste water truck crammed with explosives detonated on one of the busiest streets in the city.

The Taliban has denied responsibility for the blast, and Islamic State has remained silent on the issue. The Haqqani Network has not responded to the accusation from Afghanistan's intelligence service nor claimed responsibility for the attack.

By Thursday morning, Afghan security forces had cordoned off streets hundreds of metres from the site, and workers were busy filling in the crater left by the blast.

The explosion occurred close to Western embassies, government institutions and various residencies of high-ranking officials, reports CNN.

Eleven US citizens, assigned to the American embassy as contractors, were injured in the explosion while at Camp Eggers, a US facility across the street from the Germany embassy.

Nine Afghan security personnel working for the US were also killed.

The BBC said driver Mohammed Nazir, who had worked with the broadcaster for four years and had a young family, died in the blast. Four BBC journalists were injured.

Afghanistan's TOLO news employee Aziz Navin, 22, was killed on his way to work.

The French and Canadian embassies were also damaged in the blast, as were the offices of broadcaster 1TV Afghanistan.

--IANS

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