Jan. 27 (UPI) — An ambulance laden with explosives blew up near a security checkpoint in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Saturday, killing at least 95 and injuring at least 150 more, officials said.
The explosion came around lunchtime, a particularly busy time for a street that houses government offices and leads to some international embassies, the New York Times reported.
“Most of the victims are civilians,” Kabul Police spokesman Basir Mujahid told Stars and Stripes. “It was a terrible attack that killed women, children, shopkeepers and visitors to the area.”
The Taliban has claimed responsibility for the attack, which Dejan Panic, a coordinator for Emergency, an international healthcare non-governmental organization that treated some of the victims, called “a massacre.”
The Times described a chaotic scene on the street following the bombing. Security forces fought each other while family members struggled to track down those hurt in the explosion.
The bombing Saturday came a week after Taliban gunmen attacked the Afghan capital’s Intercontinental Hotel, killing 22 people, including four Americans.
