Kabul: The death toll in a massive blast which rocked Kabul`s strongly fortified diplomatic quarter on Wednesday has climbed to at least 64, the Interior Ministry said, with 320 injured, including women and children.
A suicide bomber detonated an explosives-packed vehicle in Zanbaq Square at around 08:30 am, the ministry said in a statement. "More than 50 vehicles were either destroyed or damaged."
The attack is one of the most serious seen in the Afghan capital for several months.
Najib Danish, an Interior Ministry spokesman, said initial findings showed it had been a truck bomb.
Meanwhile, a French minister said that the French and German embassies were damaged by the massive explosion.
"The information that I have at the moment is that there is material damage in the French embassy, there is also material damage in the Germany embassy," European Affairs Minister Marielle de Sarnez told Europe 1 radio.
She added she had no information on any possible casualties at the two missions.
In the meantime, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has strongly condemned the terror attack and said India stands with Afghanistan in combating "all types of terrorism".
"India stands with Afghanistan in fighting all types of terrorism. Forces supporting terrorism need to be defeated," Modi tweeted.
All Indian embassy staff in Kabul are safe, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said earlier today.
"By God's grace, Indian Embassy staff are safe in the massive #Kabul blast," Sushma tweeted.
Kabul car bomb blast: All that we know so far; check first visuals of massive explosion
Manpreet Vohra, India`s envoy to Afghanistan, told Times Now that the blast hit around 100 metres as the crow flies from India`s embassy, one of several in the area.
"We are all safe, all our staff, all our personnel are safe. However, the blast was very large and nearby buildings including our own building have considerable damage in terms of broken glass and shattered windows and blown doors etc," he said.
The explosion also shattered windows at the Japanese Embassy. "Two Japanese embassy staffers were mildly injured, suffering cuts", a Foreign Ministry official in Tokyo told AFP.
Bodies littered the scene and a towering plume of smoke rose from the area after the blast blew out the windows in a number of missions and residences hundreds of metres (yards) from the epicentre.
Witnesses described dozens of cars choking the roads as wounded survivors and panicked schoolgirls sought safety, with men and woman struggling to get through security checkpoints to search for loved ones.
It was not immediately clear what the target was, but the attack underscores spiralling insecurity in Afghanistan, where a military beset by soaring casualties and desertions are struggling to beat back the insurgents. Over a third of the country is outside government control.
More than an hour after the explosion ambulances were still taking the wounded to hospital, as firefighters struggled to control blazes in several buildings.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but the attack came as the resurgent Taliban are stepping up their annual "spring offensive".
Pentagon chief Jim Mattis has warned of "another tough year" for both foreign troops and local forces in Afghanistan.
Afghan troops are backed by US and NATO forces, and the Pentagon has reportedly asked the White House to send thousands of more troops to the country to break the deadlocked fight against the Taliban.
US troops in Afghanistan number about 8,400 today, and there are another 5,000 from NATO allies, who also mainly serve in an advisory capacity -- a far cry from the US presence of more than 100,000 six years ago.
The blast was the latest in a long line of attacks in Kabul. The province surrounding the capital had the highest number of casualties in the first three months of 2017 thanks to multiple attacks in the city, with civilians bearing the brunt of the violence.
(With Agency inputs)
