At least 40 people were killed and 140 wounded in a powerful car bomb blast in the Afghan capital Kabul on Saturday, the Afghan Public Health Ministry said.
The ministry also said the total was likely to increase as casualties were still being brought in.
The Italian NGO Emergency had initially said more than 50 injured had been taken to its hospital in the city, with its coordinator Dejan Panic tweeting that it had been a “massacre.”
Nasrat Rahimi, deputy spokesperson for the Interior Ministry, said the attacker used an ambulance to get through one security checkpoint by telling police he was taking a patient to a nearby hospital. He detonated his explosives at a second check point, Rahimi said.
He said a number of people were lying on the ground.
A plume of gray smoke rose from the blast area in the city center and buildings hundreds of meters away were shaken by the force of the explosion.
The attack was claimed by the Taliban.
The bombing is the second major Taliban attack in Kabul in the past 8 days. Last Saturday, an attack on the Intercontinental Hotel killed at least 20 people, including 14 foreigners.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the attack earlier Saturday, saying it had targeted a police convoy waiting in the area.
