Afghanistan: Bomb blast on mini bus in Kabul, 1 killed, 5 injured
Emergency personnel and the bus driver said a minibus exploded on Saturday on a busy commercial street in the neighborhood of Kabul, which mainly houses members of Afghanistan’s minority Hazara community. At least one person was killed and five were injured.
Those working with ambulance teams at the scene told The Associated Press that the explosion appeared to have been caused by a bomb on the bus.
The bus driver, speaking to the AP at the hospital, said that once on the way a suspect got into the bus and a few minutes later the rear of the bus exploded.
The driver, who goes by the same name Murtaza, said he saw two passengers with their clothes on, falling from the rear of the vehicle, while the other passengers escaped from the front.
Zabihullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the ruling Taliban in Afghanistan, told AP that the minibus caught fire and exploded, killing one person and injuring another.
Photos from the scene showed burning debris of a vehicle and plumes of smoke rising into the air. The blast occurred on a main road running through Dashti Barchi, a sprawling neighborhood west of Kabul that is largely populated by the Hazara population.
Afghanistan’s Hazaras, who are mostly Shia Muslims, have been the target of a brutal campaign of violence over the past several years that has been blamed on the Islamic State group. Terrorists have carried out several deadly attacks in Dashti Barchi, including the 2020 attack on a maternity hospital.
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