Kabul Bombing Kills at Least 80, Shaking City Center



KABUL, Afghanistan — A truck bombing near the Afghan presidential palace early Wednesday killed at least 80 people and wounded hundreds, officials said. The death toll seemed certain to rise, and the attack appeared to be one of the bloodiest of the long Afghan war.

The huge explosion caused panic in much of central Kabul, shattering windows as far as a mile away. Nearly two hours after the blast near Zanbaq Square, a crowded area in the capital that leads to the presidential palace as well as major foreign embassies, plumes of smoke were still rising from the scene.

Kabul’s police chief, Gen. Hassan Shah Frogh, said the explosives had been in a tanker truck used to empty septic wells. The bomb was detonated near the square just as the street turns toward the German Embassy, he said.

“The blast was so huge that it dug a big crater as deep as four meters,” or 13 feet, General Frogh said.

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