Blast hits Afghan capital Kabul, causes panic among war-weary residents

Peace in Afghanistan's capital Kabul was once again disrupted by a blast despite no loss of life and property so far reported

Peace in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, was once again disrupted by a blast despite no loss of life and property so far reported according to authorities, causing panic among the war-weary Afghan people.

The blast, according to the Interior Ministry, took place at 09:40 a.m. local time on Tuesday when an improvised explosive device placed in a vase put on the Darul Aman road went off, causing no casualties.

"There was a blast on Tuesday morning but left no casualties," Interior Ministry spokesman Qari Sayed Khosti said.

In the meantime, eyewitnesses as well as the local media outlet Ariana News said five people, including security personnel were injured, Xinhua news agency reported.

"I was crossing the road on Tuesday morning but suddenly a blast shocked me and damaging my truck and also injured three labourers, two seriously," Rahimullah, a truck driver, told Xinhua.

"It is a matter of concern that continued terror attacks and bomb blasts terrify our people, although the war is over," he said.

No group has claimed responsibility for the blast so far. Islamic State-affiliated militants who were involved in several terror attacks in November, including the blast targeting the military hospital in Kabul, leaving 15 dead and 34 wounded have yet to make comments.

Tuesday's blast was the latest of many explosions reported in the past weeks in Afghanistan. On Thursday last week, a bomb struck a civilian vehicle amid busy traffic in Kabul, causing no casualties and in another development, four children were killed and one wounded as some explosive remnants blew off by accident on the outskirts of Taluqan, capital of the northern Takhar province.

The western part of Kabul was the scene of the twin explosions on November 17 which left at least one civilian dead and six others wounded, and of the explosion striking a bus on a busy road on November 13 which killed at least one civilian and injured four others.

Explosions and kidnappings have been repeatedly reported in Afghanistan in the past few months.

"We Afghans are fed up of war, our faith to the peace and security we enjoy nowadays will collapse if such terror attacks go unchecked," an eyewitness to Tuesday's blast in Kabul, who refused to give name and take photo, said to Xinhua reporters.

--IANS

int/khz/