Massive bombing in Kabul as Washington mulls Afghan escalation
By
Bill Van Auken
1 June 2017
A massive bomb transported in a sewage tanker truck blew up Wednesday morning in the center of Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, killing at least 90 people and wounding over 400 more. The death toll is expected to rise.
The suicide bombing took place near Zanbaq Square, a supposed high security zone that is a center for foreign embassies and Afghan government ministries. It is not far from the presidential palace.
The attack took place in a crowded area in the middle of the morning rush hour, inflicting death and destruction on civilians making their way to work. In the aftermath of the explosion, a dark cloud of smoke towered over the city, while on the ground the streets were littered with demolished vehicles, debris from damaged buildings and large numbers of bodies, mangled and burned. The force of the blast knocked out windows miles from the site.
There was speculation that the real target of the attack had been the Kabul headquarters of the NATO occupation forces, but that the truck had been turned back at a security checkpoint. It was still unclear how the bomber penetrated other security points to reach Kabul’s embassy row, with speculation that he may have had assistance from within the Afghan security forces.
The embassies of Germany, Iran, India, Bulgaria, France, Japan, Turkey and the UAE were all damaged in the bombing.
Angry crowds gathered outside Kabul hospitals searching for missing loved ones, with many denouncing the corrupt and fractured US-backed government of President Ashraf Ghani for its failure to provide minimal security.
In the aftermath of the attack, the Taliban, the largest of the insurgent groups fighting the US puppet regime’s security forces, denied…