ADVERTISEMENTThe Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has condemned the attack as “cowardly as it targeted civilians going about their daily lives.” The blast is one of the largest to hit the Afghan capital since the 2001 intervention.
One eyewitness described the scene moments after the explosion: “I didn’t know what the loud bang was. I was sitting in a room. I was supposed to go to a [TV] studio for an interview. The wall fell and some wooden boards fell on us. I was trapped under one. Then I realised that people were on the floor and there were streams of blood.”
Frantic relatives rushed to the blast site’s cordoned-off perimeter as well as hospitals to try and find their loved ones as makeshift ambulances carried the injured away from the scene.
Ahmad Murtaza was among the many walking wounded seeking medical attention. He was hurt on his way to work: “I was going to the office by car when the bomb exploded,” he explained.
#KabulExplosion :These Hospitals need blood for the wounded
Wazir Akbar Khan Hospital, Emergency Hospital Kabul, Antony Hospital Kabul pic.twitter.com/2NhrNPwgbW— Niamat Ullah Hassan (@NiamatHassan) May 31, 2017
My friends are donating blood to the #KabulAttack victims in wazir Akbar khan hospital #kabul, many injured need more blood Plz ask others. pic.twitter.com/vfzwvZDZ09
— Obaid Rahimi مشواڼي (@engr_raheemi) May 31, 2017
The Afghan health ministry has appealed for blood donors saying there’s an urgent need. Kabul province has borne the brunt of the deadliest attacks in Afghanistan this year with civilians hit hardest.
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MSF</a> donates medical supplies to treat 100 wounded in Jumhuriat public hospital after explosion in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Kabul?src=hash">#Kabul</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Afghanistan?src=hash">#Afghanistan</a> <a href="https://t.co/j6YRUUUIrl">pic.twitter.com/j6YRUUUIrl</a></p>— MSF Afghanistan (MSF_Afghanistan) May 31, 2017