A victim being carried from the site of the bombing in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Saturday. The city's hospitals were overwhelmed by the number of wounded. (Photo: Wakil Kohsar/AFP via Getty Images)
Jan 27, 2018
Nearly 100 people were killed and more than 150 injured on Saturday after an attacker detonated an "explosive-laden" ambulance in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan.
The Taliban has claimed responsibility for what was described by one aid group as "a massacre."
"The attacker used the ambulance to get through a security checkpoint in central Kabul, telling police he was taking a patient to a nearby hospital," the Associated Press reports. "He then detonated his explosives at a second checkpoint."
According to Nasrat Rahimi, deputy spokesperson for Afghanistan's Interior Ministry, most of those killed by the explosive were civilians.
The attack comes as the Trump administration continues to drastically ramp up U.S. military presence in Afghanistan--an effort that has led to a dramatic rise in civilian casualties.
"More civilians were killed last year in Afghanistan, compared with the last year of Obama's tenure," observesTruthdig's Sonali Kolhatkar. "The United Nations estimates that Afghan civilian deaths from airstrikes were more than 50 percent higher in the first nine months of 2017, compared with the same period a year earlier. The Trump administration also has approved the increase of U.S. troops in Afghanistan, with the grand total expected to be close to 15,000. The longest war the U.S. has ever waged appears to have no end in sight."
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Nearly 100 people were killed and more than 150 injured on Saturday after an attacker detonated an "explosive-laden" ambulance in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan.
The Taliban has claimed responsibility for what was described by one aid group as "a massacre."
"The attacker used the ambulance to get through a security checkpoint in central Kabul, telling police he was taking a patient to a nearby hospital," the Associated Press reports. "He then detonated his explosives at a second checkpoint."
According to Nasrat Rahimi, deputy spokesperson for Afghanistan's Interior Ministry, most of those killed by the explosive were civilians.
The attack comes as the Trump administration continues to drastically ramp up U.S. military presence in Afghanistan--an effort that has led to a dramatic rise in civilian casualties.
"More civilians were killed last year in Afghanistan, compared with the last year of Obama's tenure," observesTruthdig's Sonali Kolhatkar. "The United Nations estimates that Afghan civilian deaths from airstrikes were more than 50 percent higher in the first nine months of 2017, compared with the same period a year earlier. The Trump administration also has approved the increase of U.S. troops in Afghanistan, with the grand total expected to be close to 15,000. The longest war the U.S. has ever waged appears to have no end in sight."
Nearly 100 people were killed and more than 150 injured on Saturday after an attacker detonated an "explosive-laden" ambulance in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan.
The Taliban has claimed responsibility for what was described by one aid group as "a massacre."
"The attacker used the ambulance to get through a security checkpoint in central Kabul, telling police he was taking a patient to a nearby hospital," the Associated Press reports. "He then detonated his explosives at a second checkpoint."
According to Nasrat Rahimi, deputy spokesperson for Afghanistan's Interior Ministry, most of those killed by the explosive were civilians.
The attack comes as the Trump administration continues to drastically ramp up U.S. military presence in Afghanistan--an effort that has led to a dramatic rise in civilian casualties.
"More civilians were killed last year in Afghanistan, compared with the last year of Obama's tenure," observesTruthdig's Sonali Kolhatkar. "The United Nations estimates that Afghan civilian deaths from airstrikes were more than 50 percent higher in the first nine months of 2017, compared with the same period a year earlier. The Trump administration also has approved the increase of U.S. troops in Afghanistan, with the grand total expected to be close to 15,000. The longest war the U.S. has ever waged appears to have no end in sight."
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